My father just bought a computer yesterday and I was going through it. It was a cheap computer that is three years old and a Compaq. The ad said it was windows 8.1 and still had the code for windows 7 and could be brought back to that if we desired. now the problem, this morning when looking through the computer I see a little writing in the lower right corner that says windows 8.1 enterprise evaluation days remaining 88. I did some research and saw this is basically a trial version of windows 8.1 . I tried to revert it to windows 7 at this time and it said I needed recovery media which I did not have. Now the question, Is there any way to fix this or should my dad try to get his money back? I am fairly knowledgeable about computers but I don't mess with operating systems much. Thanks for any assistance.

If it is a used computer then you should ask the person that sold it to your Dad to provide all the original disks with it which should include a recovery CD to revert to Windows 7. If the seller does not have it then it is better to get your money back as without a working OS the computer is pretty much useless.

that is kinda what I figured. I think me and my dad are giving him a call when my dad gets home from work and seeing if we can get those disks.

do you know any site that gives a good tutorial on how to do this? depending on how our chat goes with the guy later I may have to attempt something like that and I just don't understand ow to change OS's so well as I have never had to do it.

No, sorry, I don't. If it were me I'd just reformat the C: drive, power down, put the OS disc in, and power up and act as though it was a brand new, clean computer.

that's what ill do if I get the disk lol that's still in question at this point though. Thanks again for the advise though.

You can get Win7 ISO files Here, if you need to.
Not sure if it will make a difference if the OS on it currently is an OEM or not. I'd just go into the BIOS (usually it's done by hitting the DEL key when the computer is booting. Make sure you hit it repeatedly before the Win logo comes up). Once in the BIOS, change the boot preferences to CD/DVD first, then Hard Drive second. Save and exit. Reboot with the Win7 DVD in the drive and it should boot up from that and give you the option to install the OS. It will wipe out the old one and install Win7 fresh and clean.

Here is a link which might prove useful for you as it pertains to both HP and Compaq system recovery.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01867418

Downgrade Windows 8 to Window 7 Tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHi5HnIij3Q

All the HP's we have at work (5 years old and less) use F10, not Del. F9 to temporarily use another boot disk.

lol, sorry, what I meant was any OS disc. Not necessarily the original one. And I assume if one could DL it, one could make a disc with download.

ill probably end up trying that if my dad cant get his money back. At this point I think that would be the easiest thing to do.

Two kind of OEM versions. First one is the retailer one, which should be identical to a non-OEM one, the other is the brand OEM which may bypass the activation process under certain circumstances (both OS and BIOS contain correct data).
Since he should be doing a clean install, current OS is of no concern. If he can get his hands on a Compaq OEM Win7 installation disk, he may not need the serial, though he should still have it for legal reasons.

Any disc will work. If the disc+BIOS combo is correct, the activation process is bypassed completely (as in most laptops). If the disc+BIOS combo is incorrect, a working serial is needed, and Windows need to be activated (either online, or through phone).