Ask DACS
December 2011

Moderated and reported by Jim Scheef.

The first question originated on the DACS Community Forums in the AskDACS section. Copying from the forum:

Q - I have a brand new Windows 7 laptop.
1. Do I want to create “Recovery Disks” and what does that get me?
2. If there is a Windows and a Manufacturer version, which one is preferred?
3. Will anything be different if I run these after removing the inevitable crap-ware (will it return the computer to a state without the crapware, or the exact same state the computer comes in in the beginning)?
4. How do I use this media to return the computer to at the “pristine” state?
5. After it is “recovered”, will I need to re-install all of my programs and return the files from backups?
6. I assume this does not include personal files or settings (C:/ Document and Settings/*), and that I will have to have the system run routine backups to cover them.

A - There is a lot here. First, this is not a Microsoft function. The basic Windows install process does not include this type of backup or recovery function, so how this is done and what you get as a result varies by manufacturer. Generally speaking, the “recovery disk(s)” is an alternate way to reinstall Windows on a specific target machine that is intended to return the machine to the same state as when first removed from the box. “Recovery” is something manufacturers started providing instead of a full Windows installation disk. Now, many machines are shipped without any CDs or DVDs and the user must create the recovery media during initial setup. The Windows license that comes with a new machine is an OEM license and is not valid on any other machine, so both the manufacturer and Microsoft like the fact that it becomes (almost) physically impossible to use the recovery disk(s) to install Windows on another machine. How tightly this copy of Windows is tied to the specific machine varies by manufacturer, but it is clear that they have intended to make it extremely difficult to install anywhere else.
So, to answer the first point - yes you want to create recovery disks if you want to have the ability to reinstall Windows for any reason at a later time. Numbers 3 and 4 depend on how the manufacturer has designed the process to create the recovery disks and how those disks work when used to reinstall. The answer to #5 is “yes”, as the recovery process returns the machine to its original state before you installed anything. The recovery process does not recover personal data files since, by definition, they could not have been on the machine when it came out of the box. You must back up your own data.
D - Discussion included alternate backup schemes, of which there are many. What you back up - just your data files or the entire disk - is a matter of how much pain you are willing to endure to recreate whatever was lost.

Q - I just bought a new wireless router with 802.11N capability and settings for IPv6. How can I tell if it’s configured correctly and working properly?
A - The first step is to confirm whether or not your ISP supports IPv6. It is possible the IPv6 address you see in the router’s status was generated by the router and was not assigned by the ISP. A quick search on the AT&T website found a page indicating that IPv6 is not yet supported for residential customers while “AT&T’s IP backbone network supports IPv6 today, and we are offering enterprise services that support IPv6". This page could just as easily be out of date, so right now, there is no clear answer.

The AskDACS session was shortened to allow time for the annual DACS business meeting.
 
Questions for the upcoming meeting can be emailed to askdacs@dacs.org.
 
Disclaimer: Ask DACS questions come from members by email or from the audience attending the general meeting. Answers are suggestions offered by meeting attendees and represent a consensus of those responding. DACS offers no warrantee as to the correctness of the answers and anyone following these suggestions or answers does so at their own risk. In other words, we could be totally wrong!