real risk of giving away laptop?

morg_monster

I have an old compaq presario 1200 which I'm planning to freecycle. Originally it had Windows ME on (ew). But now it has Windows XP and Office 2003 on - they were installed by my cousin (an IT manager) so technically are dodgy because they are installed under the license from her company (so this means I have no reinstall CDs), but they are genuine software, so security updates etc download fine.

When my cousin installed XP, she also partitioned my hard drive so that all my documents and everything went on one drive and Windows on the other. So I have formatted the data partition a few times, but don't want to format the other partition because I can't reinstall the operating system. (I have no CDs from when I first got the laptop, no clue where they are either :-( In my perfect world I would format and then reinstall Windows 98 but I'm not paying £25 from ebay to get this and then give the computer away.

I'd rather freecycle it with XP and Office on, because its more useful obv (although with no install disks and knowing they aren't technically legal software...) but what are the realistic risks of not formatting that part of the drive? Should I not worry too much about this and give it away to some poor GCSE student who needs a computer, or format everything and just freecycle it without an OS? I didn't have anything confidential on it but did use Egg money manager on it (trying to find out how to delete the password safe at the moment).

(I did think about installing Ubuntu but thought that might put people off even more!)

Any tips? Or ideas on where to get a free genuine copy of Windows 98?!!

thebroker1980

The law has already been broken, so now if you free cycle your laptop and the new user does not know this he/she is not committing an offence and could not be prosecuted, but if the new user takes the laptop to be repaired and this comes to light, the authorities have the power to confiscate the Laptop…

Why don’t you put a free copy of Ubuntu on the laptop and if the user needs to install another OS on it I am sure they will manage it.
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Steve
Don’t forget JK Rowling 7th instalment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out on the 21st July……

Debt_Free_Chick

Agree that the software is completely dodgy as there is no valid license for it.

Why not wipe it clean and offer it with no OS? Chances are, the buyer (recipient) will already have software and the license may allow for it to be installed on the laptop. Anyway ... that then becomes their problem, not yours.

wonka

Just wipe the disks completely, and don't bother re-installing an OS.

I guarantee that there will be a freecycler out there who will gladly take it off your hands whether there is an OS or not. In fact I'll have it!

morg_monster

wonka if you lived anywhere near me I'd give it to you!! but sadly not (I'm in London)