The hotkey combination to recover ACER ASPIRE 3000 SERIES is usually [ALT+F10 ]combination. You have to click both simultaneously while re-booting your laptop so that you can enter recovery section before Windows load. Its all given in the manual section of your laptop. The hidden partition can be erased, but it is the HEART of such laptops, so do not try to be extra smart unless you know what you are doing. The hidden partition contains recovery software called NORTON GHOST ( in my laptop it was present), how ever it may differ as per configuration and price. I removed my Windows XP completely substituting with UBUNTU Desktop 14.04 because Linux is more stable and less vulnerable to virus attacks. Please do not go for UBUNTU if you do not need and if you do not know how to use it. Try to upgrade your RAM in your laptop so as to allow it to run faster. If you need any more suggestions then contact www.acer.com .