do you have a laptop or a desktop? Many of the laptops nowadays
come with Windows pre-installed and do not contain a rescue or recovery
disk to re-install everything. Instead, they contain, usually a
"hidden" partition on the hard drive for the purpose of recovery. It
should be in your manual about that, but if not you could probably
Google it by putting the model number in quotes ("_). Usually, you have
to press a certain key or combination of keystrokes to make the recovery
disk function come up. But BACKUP everything FIRST that you need to save.

Also, I believe the answer is YES about creating one or more DVDs for
most systems in order to create and make your own back-up or recovery
disks to reinstall Windows 7. I certainly agree with you about not
losing it, since you paid for it and you never know when you might need
it. (For example, I could not get Quicken to install under my Virtual
Windows 7 Pro running under Ubuntu). That should also be in your
manual and in your help files that you can click on to get information,
I would think.

The other thing - why not try to use a USB external hard drive and back
up everything you need to back up on that, Dropbox online, or whatever
works for you for now to be sure you don't lose anything before you
start your recovery?