I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other possible
identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure I never
registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)

For many reasons your best bet would be to do a clean install and use her
name when you reinstall. For one reason, it'll make it look less "used".

Clean Install Windows
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Windows XP Clean Installation - Partitioning and Formatting using Windows XP
CD
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/XPClean.htm

HOW TO Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Neil Harrington <(E-Mail Removed)> hunted and pecked:
> I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
> Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
> possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure
> I never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)

Neil Harrington wrote:

> I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
> Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
> possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty
> sure I never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_change_owner.htm - Change the
registered owner/company

Make her a new user account and delete yours after you are sure you have
all your data.

Make sure you give her all the software that came with the laptop, too.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

How to Change Name and Company Information After You Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441/en-us

JS

"Neil Harrington" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
>Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
>possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure I
>never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)
>

Two ways:

1. Download Tweak Manager from www.winguides.com and change it from there
2. Modify Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

And modify Values RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganization

"Neil Harrington" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
>Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
>possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure I
>never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)
>

From: "Wesley Vogel" <(E-Mail Removed)>

| For many reasons your best bet would be to do a clean install and use her
| name when you reinstall. For one reason, it'll make it look less "used".
|
| Clean Install Windows
| http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
|
| Windows XP Clean Installation - Partitioning and Formatting using Windows XP
| CD
| http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/XPClean.htm
|
| HOW TO Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
| http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
|

I'm in 100% agreement.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Neil

Some thoughts to get you started.

How to Change Name and Company Information After You Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441

Create a new User Profile and delete your own
How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151

Remove passwords:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/StoredPasswords.htm

Create new Identity in Outlook Express and delete existing one
File, Identities in Outlook Express. You will also need to remove
personal information in Tools, Accounts, Properties, General and Servers
tab.

Remove passwords:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/StoredPasswords.htm

Most programmes will also have a Registered Owner e.g. Microsoft Office.
You will have to uninstall if they are not to be part of the gift or change.
Remember to pass on the disks for donated programmes.

Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all
but the most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Disk Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter in Safe Mode.

I would suggest you try cCleaner.
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. I invariably
recommend creating a restore point before using cCleaner.
cCleaner also offers backup before removal.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Neil Harrington" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
>Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
>possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure I
>never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)
>

Neil Harrington wrote:

> I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
> Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other possible
> identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure I never
> registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)

I recommend you do a clean install of the OS at the SP2 level and
install all the post SP2 updates from windows update. This will remove
your data and give her a clean system to start with. For a legit
transfer the XP OS disk with COA needs to go with it.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

Method listed at : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441/en-us

"Rock" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23otGuj%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Neil Harrington wrote:
>
>> I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
>> Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
>> possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure
>> I never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)
>
> I recommend you do a clean install of the OS at the SP2 level and install
> all the post SP2 updates from windows update. This will remove your data
> and give her a clean system to start with. For a legit transfer the XP OS
> disk with COA needs to go with it.
>
> http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
>
> --
> Rock
> MS MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

"Rock" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23otGuj%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Neil Harrington wrote:
>
>> I am going to give my laptop (WinXP Home, SP2) to my great-niece for
>> Christmas. How do I change the "Registered to:" name, and any other
>> possible identifying information, from my name to hers? (I'm pretty sure
>> I never registered this system with Microsoft, if that matters.)
>
> I recommend you do a clean install of the OS at the SP2 level and install
> all the post SP2 updates from windows update. This will remove your data
> and give her a clean system to start with. For a legit transfer the XP OS
> disk with COA needs to go with it.
>
> http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
>
> --
> Rock
> MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

In this case (as probably with most laptops) it came with a Recovery disc,
not the full OS disc. I have never used one of these things before, but my
understanding is it is supposed to wipe everything on the HDD and install
the OS and other software so that it's just as it came from Toshiba in the
first place. So I guess I will do that, then install SP2 since that came
along after this laptop was put together (nearly three years ago).

Anything I need to know before doing this? I'm assuming it will be pretty
self-explanatory once I start the Recovery process, but as I say I've never
used one before.

Neil