Windows 7 install question: Partition?

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I bought a Windows 7 Professional edition through the student discount for about $30 got the $200 hundred dollar edition professional. The download was fully official through microsoft and Iriver in an ISO format.

http://www.microsoft…/windows-7.aspx

My issues is I had a Vista 32bit os prior. I did a clean install and the new 32 bit OS Win 7 did not give itself a large partition to protect its original installed state. The partition it installed on my clean 500 GB drive was about 100 MB that I can not access. The files for the system seem to be in the easily accessible partition where all my media, games and text files are stored on the typical C drive.

Should I try to reinstall the Win 7 OS, or is this ok? I’m worried that I might accidently download something with a virus, or click on the wrong website and get a virus. The fear is if I get a virus I may not be able to save my system from corruption, everything being in practically the same partition and all.

I may not really know what I am talking about here, can anyone give me an answer to help me out, on whether the install went properly or not?

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IMO it’s a normal clean install routine for Windows 7 pro
As for the 100MB of unallocated space, I believe that is meant for some sort of bitlocker installation and use area
but I’m not entirerly sure. I think it’s sets itself up that way so bitlocker can be used.
Bitlocker= Microsofts version of disk encrcyption.
I don’t believe it is a problem that has any noticable effect on the os other than the irritation
of it’s existance (imo).

I’ve tried to get rid of it during several clean installs within the windows 7 setup DVD but was unable.
You could probably, easily get rid of it with a 3rd party partitioning tool and also partition your large drive if you so choose. I don’t believe a re-install is needed.

C

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I agree. It appears all is in order with your install. I have only installed Home Premium and Ultimate. My Ultimate installation does not show a 100 mb unused partition but I used Partition Wizard ( free here: http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html ) to remove a Recovery partition from my old Vista OS that came pre installed. I think I also recovered the 100 mb partition and expanded my OS partition to include this space.

Type diskmgmt.msc in the search box. The disk manager will show all partitions and which is active, etc. DO NOT mess with the partition containing your OS except to expand the volume to include unallocated space. I found that Windows built in partition tool is somewhat limited for recovering this space, but Partition Wizard did the job. The built in tool works well to partition your disk to break the 500 GB into smaller partitions for data, page file, etc, but not for recovery these hidden partitions.

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I bought a Windows 7 Professional edition through the student discount for about $30 got the $200 hundred dollar edition professional. The download was fully official through microsoft and Iriver in an ISO format.

http://www.microsoft…/windows-7.aspx

My issues is I had a Vista 32bit os prior. I did a clean install and the new 32 bit OS Win 7 did not give itself a large partition to protect its original installed state. The partition it installed on my clean 500 GB drive was about 100 MB that I can not access. The files for the system seem to be in the easily accessible partition where all my media, games and text files are stored on the typical C drive.

Should I try to reinstall the Win 7 OS, or is this ok? I’m worried that I might accidently download something with a virus, or click on the wrong website and get a virus. The fear is if I get a virus I may not be able to save my system from corruption, everything being in practically the same partition and all.

I may not really know what I am talking about here, can anyone give me an answer to help me out, on whether the install went properly or not?

Windows 7 doesn’t give itself ANY partition. You have to specify them yourself during setup. Windows 7 doesn’t do anything “to protect its original installed state” except to set a Restore Point that will soon be deleted as others are created. Are you confusing that with the hardware manufacturers’ system restore partition? You need to create a drive image to do that yourself.

Wherever you install Windows is going to be your C: drive.

If you get a virus, having your data in a different partition is not going to help. You need a good anti-virus program. I highly recommend Sunbelt Software’s Vipre.

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Thank you guys, Clint, Ted, and Bob. I was worried about a bad install. I am making a set of the system repair disc and system image now, and looking at different virus protection.

Is Sunbelt Software’s Vipre really one of the best? I never heard of it until now. Te website shows a number f awards, but the other Windows recommended virus protections all look the same in utilities and about in price.

Bob do you recommend this software over CA 2010?
This is the list Microsoft shows for possible protection

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx

I’m still a little lost in choosing one. I liked Zone Alarm, but I don’t have the 2gigahertz processor, only have 1.7 gigahertz.

If any advice on which one really is best,

I have 1.7 gigahertz processor duo core and 3Gb ram

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My recommendations based on your specs would be to use the default Windows 7 firewall and MS’s MSE.
They are both free, and of course you are free to choose others if they prove to be problematic.
If anything you could use them until you have spent some time doing your research prior to forking out hard earned monies.

C

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The partition it installed on my clean 500 GB drive was about 100 MB that I can not access.

See Solved What’s on that 100MB partition? Can I delete it? – Windows 7 Forums for details.

If you want to read a lot more about the 100MB partition see the links at 100mb partition windows 7 – Bing/

Joe

--Joe

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Bitlocker does use this 100 or so MB partition, it is at the very beginning of the drive.
If you are not using Bitlocker then it is safe to have it removed. You will have to remove it by expanding
your Primary/Active os partition with a 3rd party tool.
I have removed and see no ill effects. I can easily boot from the “repair” boot disk.

MS Tech Net
MS Tech Net

In Windows 7, a separate, active system partition is created automatically. By default, the system partition does not have a drive letter so that it is not easily accessible by the user

I suspect that this unalocated partition can be set up with both the recovery options and Bitlocker, if one chooses to use it.
If one creates a recovery partition, then only that which is on the “repair” boot disk is placed there, not a complete system restore or image.

Partition Wizard Home Edition Free!

Decent free partition software, will do the job nicely.
Thanks Ted.

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Whew!! Lots of worries out there. Step back from your computer and take a looooong deep breath.

Partitions: Wow everyone is soooo mesmerized by the fact that you can slice and dice these things up like you have a slap and chop! Well, “caus we haven’t got all day” quit woring about it. If you have a nice fat 500GB drive, feed it to the OS. Dicing it up to prevent the evil spyware from getting it will not do one bit of good. If you get a virus or spyware, the SYSTEM is compromised and a partition will not help.

IF you want to protect your data, get an external drive and back it up or use an on line backup service like Carbonite. That is the only sure way to recover from a catastrophic failure or attack.

Now for protecting your self. There is a lot of software out there, but the best combo I have found, is to use AVG (paid version) and Malwarebytes (paid version) together. This is about as good as it gets. Does it stop infections 100 percent, heck no. If your wading into MySpace and other questionable sites, your going to get “probed” on a regular basis. If your ripping off music or software, your going to get slammed. It is a given. If your a grandparent and your 11, 14 and 16year old grand kids use your computer during their weekend visit, be ready to pay for a repair.

Bottom line, stop worrying about partitions and start worrying about protection.

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