<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 5:07 PM, Michael Mol <<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 4:48 PM, David Pembrook <<a href="mailto:david@pembrook.net">david@pembrook.net</a>> wrote:<br>
> john-thomas richards wrote:<br>
> > On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 10:40:33AM -0400, Casey DuBois wrote:<br>
> ><br>
> >> Interesting story about Pre-Installed Viruses on Retail devices.<br>
> >><br>
> >> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WireStory?id=4446944&page=2" target="_blank">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WireStory?id=4446944&page=2</a><br>
> >><br>
> ><br>
> > I bought my wife a laptop that came with a virus pre-installed. I<br>
> > cannot remove the virus until the warranty is up (strangely, the<br>
> > manufacturer, HP, voids the warranty if I replace the virus with Linux).<br>
> > Alas. In a year or so I can wipe out the virus and put Debian on it.<br>
> > My wife even asked me if I would. :-)<br>
> ><br>
> Why wait?<br>
><br>
> You could make those nice restore cd/dvd's that they never bother to<br>
> include any more... Use it with Linux, if it need factory work, restore<br>
> the original os.<br>
<br>
</div>Unless the factory work makes restoration impossible. This could<br>
happen in the case of a bad CD-ROM drive, bad hard drive, or a variety<br>
of mainboard failures. True, you might be able to put the hard<br>
drive(assuming it works) in a different box, but that's still more<br>
work than a simple restoration.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
</font></blockquote><div>While not included, you can call HP and<br>obtain backup disks. It's an ordeal. And<br>you will probably find yourself in India at<br>some point. But I've done it.<br><br>Make sure you have a serial number handy.<br>
<br> -Bob<br><br></div></div><br>