How many OS are there at present and what are they?

What is an OEM key and how can I reinstall an OS?

• Someone said I could reinstall windows vista from an OEM key. How do I do that? I want to wipe my hard drive an install a new OS, a free one. My computer has viruses and stuff on it and I want to just wipe everything off of it so I was looking for a new OS to install on it. Could I do that with Linux? Or if I could just save the vista off of it and reinstall it after the wipe, would that fix the viruses and how would I do that?

• Answer:

  Ok. There'sre really 2 questions here and they are apples and oranges. 1. What is OEM: When you go buy a computer from DELL or GATEWAY or IBM or even from stores like Future Shop and/or any local computer shop, it usually comes with windows pre-installed. This is called OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Even a big company like Dell has to pay Microsoft to install Windows. They do this with an OEM disk. There's nothing really special about an OEM disk. As with other discs it comes with a key that allows you to install the software. When they install Windows on your computer they have to enter the key (just as if you bought a copy of windows yourself) but they do it in BULK. This saves them some time and money. When you buy the computer you are also buying the license to use Windows. So GOOD re-sellers will give you the disc and key that they used to install your computer. This means that, if you get infected with viruses and ****, you can zap the computer and re-install from the OEM disc. 2. YES you can install linux. This is completely separate from your OEM/windows stuff. You are taking the computer that you bought and installing a FREE operating system on it. You DO NOT need an OEM key for this. If you wanted to re-install windows, yes, you need the original disc and OEM key, but if you are switching, none of that nonsense matters at all. I hope this helps. GO LINUX MINT!