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hydrive1902

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question about windows 8 and the recovery media (planning on installing windows 7)

Hi I have a customer who brought me the laptop so I can downgrade it from windows 8 to windows 7 but the customer wants me to make a backup incase the laptop ever needs warranty (I understand it it goes in with win 7 installed they will void the warranty) but I was wondering if I should run the "make a recovery drive" wizzard or if I should use a program like acronis to do a full backup?

In other words if I just run the wizard to make a recovery drive, will it back up all the files I need (in the event the HD fails) or would acronis be safer?
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hydrive1902

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I tried loading classic shell and the customer seems to be ok with that.

I was surprised because I know I myself would not be ok with that, if it was my personal laptop. Maybe because I am a computer tech and just dont like change, and know too much about the older versions to switch to the new versions.

so they are going to keep windows 8, so should I still make an external backup (incase the hard drive got virus infected) or is the restore section safe from vulnerabilities on windows 8?
In terms of a backup, get the machine setup first (Office, Adobe, whatever else), and then yes, by all means, do a backup. We do that for clients (we use a large capacity USB hard drive) so that if they screw up their machine, it can be recovered.

... Thinkpads_User
Just curious, what is it about ClassicShell you don't like?   I'm a tech too but I like the older feel of a Start Menu.    I'm not convinced the new GUI is productive enough for my needs (i do web design and graphic/multimedia work also).   I'm not saying that the new GUI doesn't work great for some people's needs, but many have rejected it.    If i did my work on a tablet (which would be extremely slow going), then maybe 8 would be great.    I feel like Microsoft put a tablet interface on a desktop.   Trucks have a purpose different than buses, desktops have different purposes than tablets.   There is no way a tablet can compete with the high memory/powerful/multi-big-monitor system i do work on.
hi tailoreddigital- actually on my computer I am still running xp with no problems at all, so it isnt that I dislike classic shell, I dislike the style of the windows 7. If I had to run a laptop with windows 8 I would definitly use classic shell however, but compared to xp I dislike it, thats what I meant!
thanks!
Hi hydrive1902 - Thanks. I do not use Classic Shell, but I use a very classic and very simple desktop so that all my machines from Windows 95 forward all look the same.

Windows 8 has been improving, so I fairly happy with it.

... Thinkpads_User
I'm hopeful Microsoft will give us more hybrid-like options,   i.e.    XP having a Classic Start Menu option.       A computer is used in so many ways that it's unrealistic that Microsoft can shove us all into the same way.      

There are cars, pickup trucks, buses, tow trucks, fire engines, etc....    many different types of vehicles for many types of uses.  The computer is varied in it's uses also.   Microsoft would be smart to give us an OS with many options for how we configure and use a computer.    Just the popularity of things like ClassicShell should be a hint that other methods might be more efficient for some people.