Expert: Lorry - 11/8/2009

Question
Dear Lorry, I ma a 65 retired goldsmith out of work. My previous computers have been stolen and I got as a present this SONY VAIO. It had a pre installed Windows xp home, sticker on the back with product key. When I got this nice little laptop it was infected and a crook repairman put in a pirate version of windows xp (2003?)Now I want to re-install the windows OS using the product key on the label on the back (25 characters).
Do you know if that can be done without having to buy it again?
At present I can not play DVDs or CDs
Thank you for your time,
Alex

Answer
Hi Alex,

Do you have the original Windows XP CD? If yes, there should be no problem in doing a clean install using the product key you have. If you do not have it, I would try to get it back from the person who serviced it and installed the pirated version and notify the authorities. You should not have to pay for Windows again, then again, with the way things are today in the world, it seems like everything is fair game - that is why I suggest that you contact the authorities.

To contact Sony, go to: http://www.sony.com/index.php , click on Service and Support, put the mouse over Electronics, then click on Product Support. Not knowing your model number, you will have to the rest.

Sony explains how to create Recovery Disks at:

http://www.pctechbytes.com/2009/08/01/sony-vaio-recovery-disks/

Regarding the inability to play CDs or DVDs, it might just be that the drivers need to updated. To do that, go to the following site and put in your information:

http://esupport.sony.com/perl/select-system.pl?DIRECTOR=DRIVER&PRODTYPE=24&templ...

Hope this helps!
Lorry