Everything that was on the computer -- including the OS -- had a corresponding disk.
Last week, I needed to re-installed everything (I had errors and bugs coming out my ears due to nephew messing around with stuff in the System folder. And, I figured it was time to start from a clean slate and get rid off all the strange little files that accumelate on one's hardrive when one frequently donwloads programs and shareware from the internet.)
Stuck in the Dell Recovery CD and two clicks later I had a brand-spanking new computer with a fresh OS. (Dell even made reinstallation of my drivers a breeze.)
Never buy HP. Dell rules. (Of course, the machine is big, ugly, and loud as hell. But, the three-year warranty was cheap and the service guys are there 24 hours a day and extremely helpful -- even to the point of sending someone to your home to fix everything for you.)
Did they give you installable (as opposed to "ghostable") CDs for Office?