restore to factory setting

[Guest]

I am selling my computer to a friend since we got a new one. I do not want to
give her my bugs, I want to make a complete system restore back to day one. I
used my computer for school and had to download different programs to do
homework and cannot seem to get rid of them. I have tried to remove the
hardware every possible way but somehow it still hides in my system and it
bogs it down. My computer originally came with Windows ME on and I had it
upgraded to XP a year later. I have a disc but not sure how to do this
without frying the entire harddrive. Please advise the best way to give my
computer a clean slate for a new user without having to pay a professional to
do it for me. Thanks

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

I am selling my computer to a friend since we got a new one. I do not want to
give her my bugs, I want to make a complete system restore back to day one. I
used my computer for school and had to download different programs to do
homework and cannot seem to get rid of them. I have tried to remove the
hardware every possible way but somehow it still hides in my system and it
bogs it down. My computer originally came with Windows ME on and I had it
upgraded to XP a year later. I have a disc but not sure how to do this
without frying the entire harddrive. Please advise the best way to give my
computer a clean slate for a new user without having to pay a professional to
do it for me. Thanks

Simply perform a clean install of XP. You can use the upgrade disk to do this. The step by step instructions are on the following website.

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

 

[Guest]

Ronnie

Thanks, but it isnt working for me. I have the entire process about 6 times
and still nothing. I cannot figure out where to get my BIOS so that my disc
boots first. Nothing works for me or i am not looking in the right place. I
only have a disc that says Windows XP on it. But the disc doesnt do anything.
Tells me that i cannot install because my verision is newer then the disc. I
am so lost with it.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Missy

When you first start the computer you should see some text on the screen that shows the message "Press xx to enter setup" or "xx setup". xx will be a key that you press to access the BIOS settings. This is usually F2, F3 or the DEL key. When you see that message, press that key immediately and you should see the message "Entering setup" or something similar.

When you see the BIOS screen, you will see instructions at the bottom of the screen on how to navigate the menu. You want to look for the "Boot Sequence" menu. Once you are in that menu, you want to place the CD/DVD drive as the first boot device. The instructions at the bottom of that screen will explain how to move the devices to a different order in the list.

Once you have the CD drive on top of that list, press the ESC key to exit the BIOS setup. Select to save the changes.

Michael has another web page with the most common computer makes and the access key to get to the BIOS on those systems.

How to access/enter Motherboard BIOS:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm