HP Pavilion Secrets

• Pavilion systems come in both desktop and laptop varieties. Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images

  The Hewlett-Packard Pavilion line of personal desktop and laptop computers includes several unadvertised features that give the system additional functionality and utility, such as the HP Recovery Manager for troubleshooting hardware issues and the HP Games menu for entertainment. These features are unique to HP computers and are available on a wide variety of Pavilion models.

System Restoration

• HP Pavilion systems include a recovery partition that can be used for restoring the system should a major malfunction occur. By default, this partition is labeled "HP_RECOVERY" and given the drive letter "D." To access the HP Recovery Manager, restart the system, press the function key labeled "Setup" or "Recovery," and wait for the program to start. You may start this operation even when Windows fails to start, making it useful as a last resort for system repairs.

Tools

• Hewlett-Packard adds several other unique recovery tools for repairing various parts of the system. These are stored in the "PC Help & Tools" folder, located in the Start menu's list of programs. The HP Application recovery tool re-installs programs that came with the computer, and can also recover lost device drivers. The HP PC Recovery CD-DVD Creator burns backup discs for the entire system. Additionally, users can create discs for managing partitions and other system settings with the HP PC Recovery Tools CD application.

Performance

• The HP Boot Optimizer runs in the background during the startup of a Pavilion machine. It manages startup programs automatically according to available system resources, preventing the system from becoming too clogged with unneeded software.

Entertainment

• Pavilion systems ship with a large number of games preinstalled. Open the games by clicking on the Start menu, highlighting "All Programs" and selecting "My HP Games." The list of available titles includes classic games such as Scrabble, Bejeweled and Bookworm. Some games are limited to trial versions and available titles vary by system model and time of purchase.