Laptop - disc sanitizing

[arlowood]

Hi there

Looking to sell off my wife's Acer Aspire 5536 laptop - she's been bitten by the tablet bug and since she doesn't use her laptop for anything other than web browsing/shopping with the odd email I don't have an argument with her logic.


Laptop is running Vista and was not supplied with any software discs when purchased. I did however make 2 recovery discs as suggested but I'm not sure how these would function.

Anyway - what I want to do is scrub the hard disc to remove what little data is there from her usage. Don't want to remove the OS if I can avoid it but that raises the question of whether I can reset the user sign in to something generic rather the the password my wife uses at the moment.

Any suggestions out there. Can I successfully clean all data out of the hard disc without affecting the OS (my guess is that it is partitioned on the hard drive but I'm not certain).

Also can I reset the user sign in password easily?

 

[MarkE19]

From a quick Google search I found:

Restore to factory settings - Tech Support Guy Forums

From the user manual:

The restore feature allows you to restore or recover the system from a factory
default image or from previously created CD and DVD backups. You can also
reinstall applications and drivers for your Acer system.
1 Click on Start, All Programs, Acer, Acer eRecovery Management.
2 Switch to the Restore page by clicking Restore.
3 You can choose to restore the system from a factory default image or
reinstall applications and drivers.
4 Follow the instructions on screen to complete the process.

This wipes everything off the HDD and then copies a new clean version of all the software & drivers that were on the laptop when it was bought. All personal data and passwords etc will be gone and it will be as if the laptop was brand new - including needing the 1,000,000 or so MS updates that have been released since Vista came out.

Mark.

 

[12harry]

Am I right to believe my Win7 Restore does it automatically every week, say?
+This could be risky if it restores when the PC is faulty . . . but that's part of Win problem . . . too much is just not simple enough. It would be nice if Win7 told me it wants to reactivate the Restore Point and will that be OK in ...hrs?

MarkE19 - sorry a mind-slip, yes it's "Restoration Point" - I recall looking (somewhere) and finding quite a few, such that I don't bother to do it "manually" - however, I suspect this "Nanny state" is not very robust, since it's possible the "regular" Restoration Point has been switched off. and I'n not know - until I need it!

It would be far nicer if Win advised me that it's done "This, or That" so I can keep up with progress.
Win Updates are far fewer than a year ago . . . . perhaps that shows Win7 (32), has settled down . . . .
Thanks.

 

[MarkE19]

Am I right to believe my Win7 Restore does it automatically every week, say?

No, Windows does not ever automatically do a restore.
If Windows did a restore every week then any new software you installed would be removed, documents you create would be deleted etc. and I doubt this is something you would want to be done

Are you confusing Restore with creating a Recovery Point? Windows does regularly create a recovery point so you can manually wind back to a previously know working point should something get corrupted.

Mark.