Another Windows 7 problem

[bedlamite]

Moms got computer problems again. HP Probook 6560b, Windows 7 Pro 64bit.

Lots of bloatware crashing at startup, Avast was disabled a month ago and it seems to be a free for all. Managed to get Avast going again, ran malwarebytes, removed tons of crap, and It's actually somewhat useable again, but it still has issues.
copied all the important cat videos, quilting patterns, favorites, etc. off the machine. Planning on a format and clean install. Everything works great when booting from a Linux mint live usb, but she wants windows.

Problem is my Windows 7 Pro disk seems to have vanished, and the key is not working on either my 7 home premium disk or Win 10 USB from my other laptop. Can't download the ISO directly from Microsoft without a retail key, the one I have is OEM. OK, fine. I figured I'd upgrade to 10, then download the media and install a clean version from that. Win 10 won't install, I need to either remove or disable HP ProtectTools Security Manager before it will go ahead. The HP installer says the software is not compatible with this computer, even though it was installed when new.

I've spent a most of the morning searching how to uninstall it, but can't seen to get anywhere. Any suggestions? I'm a little short of detcord.

[K Frame]

ANFO...

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[230RN]

Ask Apple to crack it for you.

[AJ Dual]

Just get a torrent of the ISO and burn it to disk. As long as you have the key on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop, you're good.

Just be sure it's the exact right version.

Run Combofix on the bare install if you're paranoid.

(edit) Nevermind. Get it from here. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

[lee n. field]

and don't loose it this time.

(I have a bunch of different win 7 isos here, as well as 8 and 10).

[zxcvbob]

Isn't there a recovery partition to reinstall?  I thought that's how they generally do it now for laptops.

[bedlamite]

(edit) Nevermind. Get it from here. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

Tried that. Doesn't work with an OEM key, only retail box.

Ended up uninstalling pretty much everything that wasn't part of the OS,  and on removing one of the other HP programs, the security manager disappeared with it. After that Win 10 installed with no problems, but took hours. Space used on the disk went from over 400GB to 120GB, and it's a lot faster. Going to put it away for a while.

[Mannlicher]

I think by that point, I would use the PC for a target, and just buy a new machine.     

[Phantom Warrior]

I've used this website with good results in the past.  No issues with OEM vs. retail.

http://getintopc.com/?s=Windows+7

[bedlamite]

Got everything working, got it back to her last Tuesday. I get home from work Wednesday and there are three messages:

1) Computer is acting funny, please help. 2) Really mad, about to throw computer in trash. 3) Got it figured out, thanks.

I call to find out what actually happened, she doesn't want to talk about it, which means she knows she screwed something up.

I get home from work Friday and there are three messages:

1) Computer is acting funny, please help. 2) Really mad, about to throw computer in trash. 3) Got it figured out, thanks.

I call to find out what actually happened, she's gone for the weekend.

I see a pattern developing.