Restting windows to factory settings

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so it is as
if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do this without
formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.

thanks in advance!!!


--
buffy2k5

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:buffy2k5.1mzmdm@pcbanter.net,
buffy2k5 <buffy2k5.1mzmdm@pcbanter.net> typed:

> Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so
> it is
> as if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do
> this
> without formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.


Why do you want to do it with formatting the drive? If your drive
is not NTFS, you could boot to a DOS diskette and delete all the
files, but the result is almost exactly the same.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

buffy2k5 wrote:
> Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so it is as
> if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do this without
> formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.


No, not really.

To protect your personal information and data from any future users
of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive
and reinstall only the OS and those applications whose licenses are to
be included in the sale/transfer. If you wish to do a more thorough job
of protecting your personal data, WipeDrive 2.2.1
(http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_Overview.htm?ProductNum=07) meets
U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard
drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In a nutshell No!
I assume you will be selling it complete with operating system? If so you
are going to need to reformat the drive and reinstall windows xp home onto
the system.
You will also need to give the purchaser the windows xp cd (assuming you
have a boxed retail copy) or the relevant recovery disks. You won't be able
to install xp on the pc you sell and keep the cd to install on a new pc
because you won't be able to activate the same copy of xp on two machines.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org


"buffy2k5" <buffy2k5.1mzmdm@pcbanter.net> wrote in message
news:buffy2k5.1mzmdm@pcbanter.net...
>
> Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so it is as
> if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do this without
> formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.
>
> thanks in advance!!!
>
>
> --
> buffy2k5

 

[johnf]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

What actually happens is that you 'think' you delete all the critical data
along with the rest, but all it does is sever the link to that data, which
remains on the drive until at some later stage it's over-written by newer
information and gone to God.
While it's still sitting there, anyone with a bit of knowledge can access
and recover all that data.
You need a good 3rd. party software capable of completely erasing the whole
drive


--

johnf

> Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so it is as
> if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do this without
> formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.
>
> thanks in advance!!!
>
>
> --
> buffy2k5

 

[johnf]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

-- Or just replace the drive with a new one, drill a hole through the old
one & bin it.


--

johnf

> What actually happens is that you 'think' you delete all the critical
> data along with the rest, but all it does is sever the link to that
> data, which remains on the drive until at some later stage it's
> over-written by newer information and gone to God.
> While it's still sitting there, anyone with a bit of knowledge can
> access and recover all that data.
> You need a good 3rd. party software capable of completely erasing the
> whole drive
>
>
> --
>
> johnf
>
>> Hey i want to sell my computer but want to erase everything so it is as
>> if new. with everything erased. Is there anyway i can do this without
>> formatting drive? im on windows xp home edition.
>>
>> thanks in advance!!!
>>
>>
>> --
>> buffy2k5