Computer help

[ROMOSAPIEN9]

Is there a way to reset one of my PC's to the way it was out of the box w/o having any/the Restore CD's?

I have a 2 year old Compaq Presario SR1410NX that I want to sell, so I need an easy way to get it all cleaned up.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan.

 

[the kid 05]

do you have a copy of Win XP you can format your hdd then reinstall win xp on it and wall-la good as new (despite being a Compaq )

 

[Yeagermeister]

You can do as the kid said above or contact HP support and see if you can get new restore cd's sent to you.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

do you have a copy of Win XP you can format your hdd then reinstall win xp on it and wall-la good as new (despite being a Compaq )

Do as the kid says.

If you have a win Xp, win2000 cd.

Format your hard drive using those CDs and install the windows on it.

If you do NOT have a windows CD.

Look to see who makes your hard drive.

Find that companies web site.

Find the download programs and choose the one that let's you reformat the hard drive.

Once the hard drive is reformatted you have no info on it.

When you sell it tell the person they will have to put an operating system on it.

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

Unless you are selling it with a copy of Windows already installed, I would recommend wiping it clean.

Download a copy of DBAN ( http://dban.sourceforge.net/ ) burn it to CD, and boot from that CD. It will wipe everything off your hard drive, then it will wipe it out a few more times for good measure.

I do this with all of my hard drives before selling them.

Or when I leave my job and I *really* don't want them to know how often Ive been on this site...

 

[GTaylor]

Unless you are selling it with a copy of Windows already installed, I would recommend wiping it clean.

Download a copy of DBAN ( http://dban.sourceforge.net/ ) burn it to CD, and boot from that CD. It will wipe everything off your hard drive, then it will wipe it out a few more times for good measure.

I do this with all of my hard drives before selling them.

Or when I leave my job and I *really* don't want them to know how often Ive been on this site...

I second this, formatting doesn't clean your PC, all it does is tell the PC there's nothing for you to see here. If the other person has recovery software they can find what you previously had on your computer.

Wiping it, on the other hand will do the trick (Wiping is basically writing 0s and 1s all over the hard drive).