I am worried that if I use my acer laptop that has windows 7 to download a program from microsoft windows website onto a flash drive that is for my dead toshiba that has windows vista that it might somehow find its way to the harddrive on my acer and screw up my windows 7. (when I tried i was getting messages "you are running windows 7 etc etc even though i didn't do any compatibility check.)

That warning is just telling NOT to install it on win 7 box. If you download it and save it to the USB and do not run it then you are good to go

Bubba is correct-o. Just don't execute the program from the Acer laptop.Miguel Fra / Falcon ITS Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase Sharepoint Site

I am worried that if I use my acer laptop that has windows 7 to download a program from microsoft windows website onto a flash drive that is for my dead toshiba that has windows vista that it might somehow find its way to the harddrive on my acer and screw up my windows 7. (when I tried i was getting messages "you are running windows 7 etc etc even though i didn't do any compatibility check.) Hi More information. When you select to download the file, you will see a download dialog box with 3 buttons, Run, Save, and Cancel. Select the Save button. (If you select the Run button, the file will try to install on the computer you are using) You will then see another pop up window where you can select the Flash Drive as the download location and then click the Save Button. Hope this helps. Thank You for using Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP