Lost the boot sector in my Alienware 18, reasons unknown. Took it to Stratos (BIG MISTAKE) for what I thought would be a relatively easy fix. Note that this laptop came with Alienware proprietary software equipped with Windows 7 Home Premium. I asked them to restore the boot sector but, instead they erased my original version of Windows 7, for convenience I guess, because apparently they could not perform the task I requested, and replaced it with Windows 7 SP1. TOTALLY DIFFERENT! The data I lost as a result was priceless and irreplaceable. They took the easy route and thought they pulled a fast one one me but it didn't take me long to discover their lack of PC knowledge, which in return leaves me with a laptop I can no longer use as before. In addition to that, before I dropped it off, this 5 year old laptop didn't have a mark or a scratch on it. When it was returned, the touchpad screens coating was marred and scratched making it entirely useless. When I called to bring theses things to their attention, the tech on the phone said he didn't know how that occured, the scratches,basically said "he was sorry", offered no recourse and neglected to give me the Windows key code to activate this version of Windows which runs out in 20 days. These guys are hacks. If you need REAL computer help, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere. read more