Deleting previous owner !

[Guest]

I have recently bought a PC from a friend and although he deleted all
personal files etc I still get occassions when folders etc refer to his name.
I have opened explorer and found one file that has his name which I believe
might be the cause. However when I try to delete the folder I get a message
saying it is a System folder and it will not allow me to delete or even
rename it.
Is there any way I can delete all history of the previous owner and prevent
their name still being attached to various programs / files etc ?

Your help and advise is much appreciated - Eos

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Is the previous owner still listed in Control Panel>User Accounts? If so,
try deleting that account.

 

[Morituri-Max]

I have recently bought a PC from a friend and although he deleted all
personal files etc I still get occassions when folders etc refer to his name.
I have opened explorer and found one file that has his name which I believe
might be the cause. However when I try to delete the folder I get a message
saying it is a System folder and it will not allow me to delete or even
rename it.
Is there any way I can delete all history of the previous owner and prevent
their name still being attached to various programs / files etc ?

Your help and advise is much appreciated - Eos

Well, if that were me, I would delete and reinstall everything from scratch if I
had all the disks and serials. At the very least I would be sure that I HAD the
serials for windows that is on the PC.. that way down the road if you end up
having to do the whole reinstall thing, you won't be left out in the rain.

Hope you get it working.

 

[Guest]

Here's a nifty little utility you can download that will change the owner's
name: http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/chgownorg.htm
Pick the XP one. Thanks to Denny Denham. But you really should do a clean
reinstallation of XP.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have recently bought a PC from a friend and although he deleted all
personal files etc I still get occassions when folders etc refer to his name.
I have opened explorer and found one file that has his name which I believe
might be the cause. However when I try to delete the folder I get a message
saying it is a System folder and it will not allow me to delete or even
rename it.
Is there any way I can delete all history of the previous owner and prevent
their name still being attached to various programs / files etc ?

Your help and advise is much appreciated - Eos

With second-hand computers, especially if acquired from strangers
but perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest
course of action would probably be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

However, to fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP,
you can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some
read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read
it only during installation.

The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been.
So, your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in
Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username
desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151

--

Bruce Chambers

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