Bring Back Pat!!! Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I have an old Dell laptop that is not used anymore. A friend's son just went to college without a computer and I'd like to pass this on. We've backed up everything on there that we need (files, pics, etc). The question is how would one go about cleaning this thing off back to scratch in order to pass it on in old like-new condition? The Tailgate knows all, the tailgate knows all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Reload the OS and choose the option to format the harddrive first. Do you have XP disks, or do you have Recovery CDs which just re-image the hard drive with the default software? Either should work. (in before polk tells you to load Linux). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieFries Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Reload the OS and choose the option to format the harddrive first. Do you have XP disks, or do you have Recovery CDs which just re-image the hard drive with the default software? Either should work. (in before polk tells you to load Linux). This might not be a bad idea if the laptop is really old. If the hardware on the lappy isn't all that great, XP will run kind of slow. It'll work, but it'll be slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Pat!!! Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 Thanks guys. It's old, but not ancient. Maybe 3-4 years? It's my wife's old one, so I'm going to have to see if she kept any of the discs that Dell sent with it. Knowing her, I'm sure we have them someplace. I may be checking in again when I get home from work and attempt this. I'm not exactly a computer guy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I may be checking in again when I get home from work and attempt this. I'm not exactly a computer guy... In theory, it should be as simple as booting the system with the CD in the drive and watching the screen to answer the questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 We have a local PC repair place that will load OS from your discs and set it up for about $30 or so. No brainer if I were you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChampSampson Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Load Unbuntu on there and never go back to Windows again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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