Q Taking back pc to factory settings ?

worriedsik

Hiya

Me again !! sorry lol

The desk top i want to take back to factory settings is an HP with xp...i thought i had done it all correct today but when it was all done all programs are still on there ie cc cleaner my daughters sims icons on the desk top etc
I was under the impression that everything would be off
i went through all the correct stages i think & when it restarted i had to name the pc etc but was still surprised that when i had a look at defrag there was still a lot off space takin up
What else can i do to make this pc run as best/smoothly as possible ? i am just going to use it as a spare now that i have it connected to my TV.
Also i have done a lot off updates today on it as it seemed to need loads so thats another reason i think i done it corectly.

Any ideas people ?

worriedsik

Just had a look in folders and there are even some off my pictures still there ? i thought everything would have been cleared out ? No ?

busenbust

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2242109

busenbust

See my reply here also, if it helps.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2275165&highlight=depends+on+what

worriedsik

Thanks busenbust but iam not sure what you mean ? can you explain please , shall i press f8 and reboot or something similar because it seems that all files are still there

i dont have a disc because the pc was given to me from a friend a long time ago

i would like it to be back to factory settings if this is posible and clear it out totally because when i defraged after ( i thought i had takin back to factory settings ) there is still not a lot off space on it

any help apreciated

thanks

busenbust

worriedsik wrote: »

Thanks busenbust but iam not sure what you mean ? can you explain please , shall i press f8 and reboot or something similar because it seems that all files are still there

i dont have a disc because the pc was given to me from a friend a long time ago

i would like it to be back to factory settings if this is posible and clear it out totally because when i defraged after ( i thought i had takin back to factory settings ) there is still not a lot off space on it

any help apreciated

thanks

Worried, I have to go in a bit Lol, so I'll be brief. For example, it depends on what option you choose; e.g. an in-place reinstall will not necessarily delete documents etc., in fact documents etc. remain intact (which is exactly why users opt for this as their first port of call). A clean wipe will destroy all residing and the OS obviously. Fair enough, you don't have the XP discs to rebuild XP but what of an HP recovery partition (you make mention of such in your initial post).

1. Clean wipe (nuke) the drive with the intention of destroying all data.

2. Install the OS if that's your aim.

3. I need to go:rotfl:. Maybe someone else can chip in.

HTH.

worriedsik

Lol what is an OS

closed

Operating system

If you are trying to free some disk space, just delete the files you have put on it.

What have you done to attempt a factory restore?

worriedsik

Hiya closed
I dont have a manual but i think i you are right i should maybee just delete some files , i did boot it up there by pressing f8 but its too complicated for me i think.
could i do it ? would it make the pc run better ?

closed

If your pc has a restore partition, you can do it, or you could look at why it's slow, a few files doesn't make it slow, what's running makes it slow.

worriedsik

Ok i think it does have a restore partition but how will i find out for sure ?