Computer Help Needed!!!

trillcat · Jul 22, 2008

I just got (Free!) a computer from my neighbor, he was going to throw it away as he has gotten a new one.
It is running Windows XP. Is there a way I can clear out everything on there and restore it back to the way it qriginaly came? He has a ton of stuff on it, would be a PIA to try to go through and delete everything one by one.

greenvillegal · Jul 22, 2008

Do you have the Windows XP install cd? You could wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Other than that I'm not totally sure. Wait around for a while and see if anyone else posts.

Congrats on your new PC!

emrldsky · Jul 22, 2008

Depends on the computer manufacturer and what he's done to it. Some places have a restore point from factory settings, but if he's savvy enough, he might have deleted that restore point.

Do you have the original discs that came with the machine? There might be a system restore cd that will restore it to the manufacturer's settings.

Other than that, you'd have to have a Windows installation disc, format, and reinstall.

Either way, good luck!

trillcat · Jul 22, 2008

No, He didn't give me any disks so I assume it was pre-installed. I will be back with more info, I just got so excited to have a computer again!!!! (Im on webtv, yup, webtv, egads!)
The problem is its running veeeeeerrrryyyyyy slow, I think he just has too much crap on it, but, Im off to go play with the now (old) toy, back soon!

strange_wings · Jul 22, 2008

What are the stats? How much ram, hard drive space, cpu speed? Depending on what you have, XP may be a bad choice for you if you want it to function at a decent speed.

I can't believe anyone would just throw a pc out, let alone one that still works. There's all sorts of things one can do with an older pc. Old pII's can be turned into routers for example. Oh well, one man's trash....

natalie_ca · Jul 22, 2008

Wow, he gave away a computer with all of his content on it? What a crazy and unsafe thing to do! He could have passwords on there, not to mention programs that if given away are a copyright violation.

He should have formatted the drive and reinstalled XP on it for you before giving it to you.

However, unless you have an XP disk or a recovery disk, you won't be able to reformat the drive if you need to because you don't have a valid copy of XP.

Also, if he does have a copy of XP and he put it on his new computer, the serial number of his copy of XP (which is also on your computer) is recorded and you or he can get into big trouble with Microsoft for running a pirated version of XP on a second computer, and you may not be able to get the windows updates either.

In order to run Windows software on a second computer, Microsoft requires you to purchase a license for the second computer. No license, equals pirating.

strange_wings · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

However, unless you have an XP disk or a recovery disk, you won't be able to reformat the drive if you need to because you don't have a valid copy of XP.

Wrong. Any Windows disc, Linux live disc (or Unix-like OS of your choice), or even a floppy with just fdisk on it will allow the hard drives to be reformatted.

katachtig · Jul 22, 2008

Some computers actually have a partition on them where the original software is located. Check the Help from the start menu to see if there is a topic about restoring the original operating system. Also, you can check the computer manufacturer's web site for information.

natalie_ca · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Wrong. Any Windows disc, Linux live disc (or Unix-like OS of your choice), or even a floppy with just fdisk on it will allow the hard drives to be reformatted.

Yes, but she won't be able to put XP back on it which is what I meant

strange_wings · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Yes, but she won't be able to put XP back on it which is what I meant

Sure she could, if she buys a copy. As for transferring a PC with XP on it. It's a little fuzzy there as one can give the license away - she'd just have to bug him for key. All it takes is a call from him to say "yes, I gave the computer to such and such" if there was a problem. Do you know they often don't even bother if two PCs, from the same IP of course, are running the same copy? We've installed the same copy on different PCs before, though not at the same time as you couldn't pay me to put XP on my PC.

But, depending on the PC's stats, I was going to suggest a different OS all together.

natalie_ca · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Sure she could, if she buys a copy.

Yes, I know that. But she doesn't have one right now and without it she can't reinstall it on her computer if she needs to.

trillcat · Jul 22, 2008

Well a lot of info that now has me going HUH? LOL.
He did give me disks, they were in a bag I didn't know roommate brought down. The disks are for Win 98, and a Dell restore disk. I don't want to restore it back down to 98 OS, so Im going through and cleaning stuff out.
Checking its stats it's an AMD Athalon processor, 1.20GHz, 240 MB RAM.

EDIT- Gateway restore disk, not Dell.

strange_wings · Jul 22, 2008

240mbs of ram?!! Forget XP. To run anything halfway decently you need twice that. XP alone recommends 256mbs.
Consider 98, Windows 2000, or switching to another OS such as Linux. On what little is there, several light weight Linux distros would run well. And no, it's not that hard to use provided that you can use google to look things up.

trillcat · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by strange_wings

240mbs of ram?!! Forget XP. To run anything halfway decently you need twice that. XP alone recommends 256mbs.
Consider 98, Windows 2000, or switching to another OS such as Linux. On what little is there, several light weight Linux distros would run well. And no, it's not that hard to use provided that you can use google to look things up.

So XP is too big for this? I didn't install it, so don't know how smooth it was running before. I dont have a problem with win 98, quite used to it, but as tech progresses its becoming another dino. I dont mind XP, though a bit hinky to me, but Im just not used to it.

strange_wings · Jul 22, 2008

Big isn't the correct term exactly - takes too much memory (ram) would be the problem. To be honest, that computer is perfectly fine for basic user use - so pick the OS that will fit your needs and won't be too much trouble to deal with. Do know though.. I consider BSOD to be "trouble to deal with".

If you use the discs that came with the PC, also consider they'll probably have useless stuff on them that you may not need - but if you have no other choice then it's worth a shot.

I'd still say Linux for something with those stats, as you could get speed, looks, other user support, and it would be free.

But you'd have to learn a whole new OS. At the very least, if you're brave and want to see how the computer handles on something less bloated then XP, have a friend download and burn you a cdr - it wouldn't affect the PC at all to boot from one.

If you're actually interested, start a thread about it as I've only had experience with three live cds. A few of the other users here have probably tried more and ubuntu is very popular right now (one I haven't tried) with a great user base.

kittkatt · Jul 22, 2008

Originally Posted by Trillcat

No, He didn't give me any disks so I assume it was pre-installed. I will be back with more info, I just got so excited to have a computer again!!!! (Im on webtv, yup, webtv, egads!)
The problem is its running veeeeeerrrryyyyyy slow, I think he just has too much crap on it, but, Im off to go play with the now (old) toy, back soon!

I feel your pain!

I 'suffered' with WebTV for years, till we got a computer from our landlady who bought a new one also, and gave us hers.

I didn't know what I was missing till I had a computer, and it crashed. Then I had to revert back to the WebTV, and it just about drove me nuts!

You don't know what you're missing till it's gone.

But to be fair, the WebTV was better than nothing at all.

My son got mine running again by using a start-up disc. It erased everything that was stored, but I really didn't mind b/c before the computer crashed, it was running reaaallly slow. It works really well now, and isn't slow at all. I think it probably crashed in the first place b/c there was way too much junk on it from when our landlady had it. I'm certainly no expert so I'm not gonna give any technical advice, but I think that that's probably what's wrong with your computer, and it would probably run better if you did the restart thing..

Congrats on getting a computer!

You're just gonna love having one!

~KK~

trillcat · Jul 23, 2008

Originally Posted by KittKatt

I feel your pain!

I 'suffered' with WebTV for years, till we got a computer from our landlady who bought a new one also, and gave us hers.

I didn't know what I was missing till I had a computer, and it crashed. Then I had to revert back to the WebTV, and it just about drove me nuts!

You don't know what you're missing till it's gone.

But to be fair, the WebTV was better than nothing at all.

My son got mine running again by using a start-up disc. It erased everything that was stored, but I really didn't mind b/c before the computer crashed, it was running reaaallly slow. It works really well now, and isn't slow at all. I think it probably crashed in the first place b/c there was way too much junk on it from when our landlady had it. I'm certainly no expert so I'm not gonna give any technical advice, but I think that that's probably what's wrong with your computer, and it would probably run better if you did the restart thing..

Congrats on getting a computer!

You're just gonna love having one!

~KK~

Love having one back! Mine died about 4 months ago, it was a long slow death as I watched sector after sector become corrupt. Scan disk became part of my normal start up routine. Too old of a beast to get it repaired anywhere, though my brother came over and took it and tried. He still has it in the back of his car, he still has hope for it to be resurected (I lost a lot of stuff, could not back anything up *sigh*) He has also gone through a computer melt down, so he know the frustration!
ANYWAY, I still have XP on it, and am still cleaning all his stuff out of it (some quite interesting, lol, porn porn porn) Also just tons of music and just junk cluttering everything up. It's getting a bit faster the more I clear, but still not what it should be. Really dont want to off XP just yet as I will not be able to get it back.
Thanks to everyone for responding to this BTW! (and I am considering Linux as an alternative, just have to research it as I know nothing about it)

trillcat · Jul 23, 2008

OK new problem. Still cleaning this thing. He has Norton, McAffee, AVG and Trend. I have never heard of trend, and it's taking up a HUGE amount of space. I cant remove the program without a password! ???

natalie_ca · Jul 23, 2008

Originally Posted by Trillcat

Well a lot of info that now has me going HUH? LOL.
He did give me disks, they were in a bag I didn't know roommate brought down. The disks are for Win 98, and a Dell restore disk. I don't want to restore it back down to 98 OS, so Im going through and cleaning stuff out.
Checking its stats it's an AMD Athalon processor, 1.20GHz, 240 MB RAM.

EDIT- Gateway restore disk, not Dell.

Do you have a windows XP disk from your old computer? If so you can put the XP OS on your new computer.

trillcat · Jul 23, 2008

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Do you have a windows XP disk from your old computer? If so you can put the XP OS on your new computer.

No, XP was installed later, the disk is Win 98.
What about this Trend deal? I want it off here, and it won't let me!

Computer Help Needed!!!

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Moderator

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter