Just bought new laptop how to reset EVERTYTHING

[AERMXI]

I just bought a laptop from a guy off craigslist it has windows 7 professional on it which i wanna keep on but what programs/ commands whatever should i use to make sure this hard drive is clean of everything before me.

 

[BHW-News]

You can download CCleaner and use the file shredder on any files you want to delete. had a 52 pass method, so there's no getting them back! Could take a while to add all the files if there's a lot, but worth it in the long run for what you're after.

 

[Conor]

Easiest way to be sure of that, would be to do a full format and reinstall of Windows.

Otherwise you can uninstall all the programs, use some sort of registry cleaner, and delete all the documents, and hope you don't have a virus or anything.

 

[KingManu]

CCleaner is cool, also Tune Up Utilities for safe-delete things. But i would still recommend a fresh copy of windows on it. Nothing like the breeze of a new win install. He might even have worms or key logger that might ruin your plans later. Better to be safe than sorry

 

[davids355]

look through start menu/all programs and look for anything that says recovery, or similar, if you cant find anything, reboot then press F8 during bootup, to get boot menu, and look for recovery in there - chances are the laptop will have built in recovery that can format everything.

If not, then you can do a manual cleanup as said above - Run Ccleaner, go through control panel>add/remove prorgams and uninstall everything thats been installed ahead of the earliest date you can see in there.
Delete desktop, docs, etc, defrag, virus scan.

Or lastly, you can format and reload - my advise if you do that, is go to the manufacturers website and download ALL the drives and put them on pendrive first, makes it easier after fresh install.

 

[switchjohnny]

Easiest way to be sure of that, would be to do a full format and reinstall of Windows.

Otherwise you can uninstall all the programs, use some sort of registry cleaner, and delete all the documents, and hope you don't have a virus or anything.

Yea, what he said. Trying to clean a computer and get it back to a good state is harder then just formatting it. Plus if it's the original install of the OS, it probably has a bunch of crap on it you don't want anyway. Just make sure you download all the drivers you need first (or at least the network/wireless drivers) onto a usb drive then do the format.

 

[twist13]

Full format is the best option. You gonna feel it like you have bought it from a dealer store.

 

[Orbit143]

Boot from a CD or USB drive with windows or whatever operating system you plan to use, drop the partition table, create a new one, format everything, install. I would also run some memory and harddrive tests to make sure everything is ok.

 

[parepare]

If you want to do a full format properly, check: http://www.dban.org/
Search google/yt for tutorial.
It'll delete everything that ever existed on that machine. Then you can just install a fresh copy of Windows.

 

[Techxan]

Delete all user accounts except one admin account, delete everything in my documents, my piccs, my whatever is on there, and downloads.

Go here

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?Itemid=223&id=29&option=com_content&task=view

download Cleanup! Its free, look under the "pay now" button for the link.

open it and set it for "thorough" cleanup, and run it. I also disable Cleanup!'s sounds.

If you set it for standard cleanout, it will recover a lot of disk space for you without deleting anything you need. I run it once a week on my systems with this setting.

The thorough setting will clean out game scores, bookmarks, history, everything you need gone to sell a computer.

 

[Patel]

Download DBAN and wipe your drive, do a clean OS install and your good.

edit: write down your windows 7 pro key, download the windows 7 iso before using dban

 

[AERMXI]

I bought the laptop off craigslist i dont have the Windows pro cd and key does do they still float around online like they used to or no?

 

[Patel]

I bought the laptop off craigslist i dont have the Windows pro cd and key does do they still float around online like they used to or no?

You can find the Windows 7 key from inside Windows. And you can find the .iso for Windows 7 from the microsoft iso download website.

 

[daflip]

most laptop these days come with built in recovery parition you can boot of that by pressing F8 under repair my computer then u will see recovery menu... for hp computers.. some computers have it with different Fnumber key usually u see it upon boot up "recovery press F4" etc.. if seller deleted it the partition and no way to recovery from factory reset, just get a copy of windows 7 and re install from there, alot of tutorial on youtube how to do that

 

[bertbaby]

Before formatting just make sure you a copy of the OS and get the license key off the hard drive. If you forgo a reinstall make sure you do a full virus scab.