Wiping a laptop to give away

Coliflower

Hi I have an old Dell 1545 inspiron which is about 6/7yrs old. The battery is knackered and does not charge but I was going to give the laptop to my father in law (i will buy a new battery).
My problem is im rubbish with computers and was wondering what the best way to wipe my computer is.
A while ago a friend tried to fix it when it was running slow and they have installed the windows disc again so that when i switch it on i get a choice of microsoft windows vista or just windows vista (this works correctly).
My other problem is due to a house move i cant find any original discs i got with the laptop.
Is it a lost cause or should i take it to a shop for them to do, if the latter does anyone know how much this will cost.
Apologies if no of that makes sense and i have missed any important info!
I would be grateful for any advice/help.
Thanks

-TangleFoot-

Options in order of insecurity:

• Remove the HDD and smash it to bits
• Wipe with DBAN
• Overwrite 'free' space after a factory restore.

gjchester

Coliflower wrote: »

Is it a lost cause or should i take it to a shop for them to do, if the latter does anyone know how much this will cost.

Anyone can re-install it, the important thing is the key code.

First ensure you have everything you need, then use DBAN to wipe it. The problem is the install CD, Dell usually supply recovery disks so theirs nothing on a partition on the hard drive to recover from

If your not technically minded see if you can borrow someone else's disk of the same sort (so if you have Vista Home Premium you need another Home Premium disk), or if you are technically minded Google for the EI.CFG file to change someone's else's into the version you need.

Any shop can do it but they will charge it's probably a few hours worth of time to do it, its easy work but a bit tedious first installing the OS, then getting the drivers then the updates. Bigger chains such as PC world are likely to want you to provide the disks or buy another copy.

It may be easier to bribe a technically minded friend with a beer or two...

-TangleFoot-

gjchester wrote: »

...easy work but a bit tedious first installing the OS, then getting the drivers then the updates.

Alternatively, put something else on it and see what happens.

gjchester

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Alternatively, put something else on it and see what happens.

Possible but most people want the familiarity of Windows, and have programs that need windows to work on. Linux is fine, but at the end of the day anyone not technically minded will be happier with Windows...

That's not saying Windows is better or worse, more people are familiar with it..

prowla

Boot from a Linux "Live" disc and copy lots of files off it onto the hard disk.

closed

the laptop is going to the father in law... dban is ott.

Going on what you said, it sounds like your friend has installed a second instance of vista, and therefore hasn't wiped the original or the factory restore partition.

if so, look amongst the dell programs for a program to create windows discs (as a precaution), dell datasafe or similar, and create the disc.

backup your data somewhere else

boot into your original vista install, press F8 to see safe mode options, advanced boot options, repair, and do a factory restore which should put the machine to the left factory state http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=DSN_336966&isLegacy=true

if you want install ccleaner, and tick the wipe free space option to make sure any future owner can't recover any of your files.

-TangleFoot-

gjchester wrote: »

Linux is fine, but at the end of the day anyone not technically minded will be happier with Windows...

I suspect the absolute beginner would be happier with Mac OS - but we can't install that.

Coliflower

Thank you for all your help, im in work today so going to have a go in the morning and see what i can do.
Regards

NiftyDigits

If following closed's instructions for a Factory restore does now work, I'll supply instructions to do the same with a Vista DVD.

What is the Service Tag?