Returning Computer To Original State

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I have really made a mess of things and would appreciate help in returning my computer back to the way it was when I received it . Is this called erasing the hard drive? and if so, how do I do it? Thanks
 
It is called FORMATTING your harddrive. But, STOP, HALT, cease!!
Don't be that drastic for it could cause more trouble than you've ever had
Get a good disk cleaner
Below website has may that are either freeware or shareware
Some are excellent and free to use for 30 days, that is enough time to do a good cleaning
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads
Just type disk cleaner in the Search box and take a look.
 
Byte said:
It is called FORMATTING your harddrive. But, STOP, HALT, cease!!!
Don't be that drastic for it could cause more trouble than you've ever had.
Get a good disk cleaner.
Below website has may that are either freeware or shareware.
Some are excellent and free to use for 30 days, that is enough time to do a good cleaning.
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/
Just type disk cleaner in the Search box and take a look.
Click to expand...

Disk cleaner may not help his situation. It only cleans up the obvious
stuff, not real messes caused by the user.

It depends on what system you have. If your computer came with OEM restore
disks, put those in and reboot. Get you Product ID first, and back up all
your files that you want to keep. If you have a manual. take a look at it
first. It will go over the simple process. If you have full insall
XP Operating system CD's, you can do the same, and it will reformat your
drive while you install. The most important thing is to save any personal
files you want to keep. In either case above, you will loose that data
from the hard drive.
 
Gabig said:
I have really made a mess of things and would appreciate help in
returning my computer back to the way it was when I received it . Is
this called erasing the hard drive? and if so, how do I do it?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Usually, a complete format/install is NOT necessary.

First - turn on that firewall...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/home/using/howto/homenet/icf.asp
If you are getting "Messenger Service" popups - this will also remedy those.


Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)


Turn off your System Restore before you start doing the rest
of this cleanup. Sometimes the virus/trojan/etc gets backed up.
After you cleanup fully, turn it back on!!!
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310405


Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these.. I recommend at least the first
three.)

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

Hijack This!
(For browser Hijacks - also look into CWS Shredder)
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

And Assortment of Others:
http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html


After you cleanup your PC somewhat of spy/ad/mal-ware, verify your antivirus
software is updated and run a full scan of your computer. If you have no
antivirus software - get one NOW!
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php


Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80-120MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 80MB and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes
or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.


Turn back on your System Restore at this point!!


Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it. If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.)


Update all of your hardware drivers (find the manufacturers of your video
card, motherboard, sound card, modem, network card and so on - go to their
web pages, look for Windows XP drivers there and download/install the newest
ones.)



Finally... if you REALLY want to re-install still:
[Courtesy Carey Frisch on these newsgroups...]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral
hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before
installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the
primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

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

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ** Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall **
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support
website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the
following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]
 
Thanks to all who responded!!! Shenan, could not initiate your first step.....turning on firewall. Followed everything very precisely but apparently AOL blocks as could not change settings. Any other ideas, or help with firewall, would be greatly appreciated.
 
Gabig said:
Thanks to all who responded!!! Shenan, could not initiate your first
step.....turning on firewall. Followed everything very precisely but
apparently AOL blocks as could not change settings. Any other ideas,
or help with firewall, would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Doh!

No - AOL will keep the ICF from functioning.
You will have to use a third party firewall or better yet - a hardware
firewall (router) instead.
 
Gabig said:
I have really made a mess of things and would appreciate help in
returning my computer back to the way it was when I received it . Is
this called erasing the hard drive? and if so, how do I do it?
Thanks
Click to expand...

It seems obvious you have a OEM system, and any OEM system has a restore
procedure to return the system to the original shipped state. From
Start> Help and Support, type in the search box Restore. If the OEM supplied
restore options, it is likely information on it's implementation will be
supplied there.
If you received any printed documents supplied with your system when you
purchased it, you should now see the importance of reading the documents and
placing the documents in a secure location. It amazes me how anyone can
purchase anything and never consult the manual on it's use. RTFM should be
classified as a disease for most of the public electronics consumers.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
Mr. Stevens, I apologize for wasting some ones time but I did not get a manual with my computer. All I received was a 6 or 7 sheet pamphlet. Most of which showed how to take the cabinet off and what was inside. If I had a manual I certainly would have checked there first. I did do Help & an Internet Search but still was not sure.

----- Michael Stevens wrote: -----



It seems obvious you have a OEM system, and any OEM system has a restore
procedure to return the system to the original shipped state. From
Start> Help and Support, type in the search box Restore. If the OEM supplied
restore options, it is likely information on it's implementation will be
supplied there.
If you received any printed documents supplied with your system when you
purchased it, you should now see the importance of reading the documents and
placing the documents in a secure location. It amazes me how anyone can
purchase anything and never consult the manual on it's use. RTFM should be
classified as a disease for most of the public electronics consumers.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
GABIG said:
Mr. Stevens, I apologize for wasting some ones time but I did not get
a manual with my computer. All I received was a 6 or 7 sheet
pamphlet. Most of which showed how to take the cabinet off and what
was inside. If I had a manual I certainly would have checked there
first. I did do Help & an Internet Search but still was not sure.
Click to expand...

Please accept my apology, I did not intend the reply to sound so harsh. You
most certainly should have received either an XP CD, or instructions on how
to restore the computer to it's original shipped state either by accessing
the restore partition on the hard drive, or a set of CD restore disks. If
you received neither, you should contact the vendor and ask them for media
to accomplish the restore to original shipped state. If they refuse to
comply, they should be reported to Microsoft as not being in compliance with
their contractual obligation.

Sorry again for the rude reply.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
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