When you run the recovery discs you get a few choices. What is the difference between the one that says to recover back to factory settings vs. formatting pc(all data will be lost). I need to dump all of the info from it and just have my operating system. I'm trying to sell it. I guess what I'm asking is, if I format and dump everything, will I still be able to have all of my windows programs like WORD and EXCEL. Also, I want to leave the antivirus on it too. Any info on this will help. Keep in mind, I want to dump all personal info to sell, so I do not want to do a system restore.
2006-11-09 01:58:42 · 6 answers · asked by blindedbylies 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
do a complete format, I have never had success with the fix it,, but also it wont clean up your disk, do the complete format,
2006-11-09 02:01:04 · answer #1 · answered by rich2481 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
run the format to remove everything first then run the factory settings that way its safer as even when you delete stuff on you computer, its not actually deleted its just flagged to be written over by other information. Therefore when you do a format it "clears" all the info. I am guessing that when the factory settings is chosen it does a format again before installing the factory settings. If you are really sensitive about your personal information look for this program called Eraser because it has an option to create a Nuke disk which completely runs a format about three times on your hard disk
2006-11-09 02:15:20 · answer #2 · answered by commandar32 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are going to sell the computer it is not advisable to just do a reformatting of the HD. Most of the data you think is erased will still be available for specialized programs to recover this data.
I recommend using this HD erasing program. It is Free and considered one of the best. This program will make it very difficult for anyone recovering any Data from the HD.
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
After using Eraser you can then Reformat your computer.
2006-11-09 02:12:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Best option for you (though a bit time consuming).. is to do a low level format of your PC (all partitions), then install windows, word and excel (I am assuming that you will give the installation CDs of these programes to the purchaser)
2006-11-09 02:03:39 · answer #4 · answered by guruji9x 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do factory settings option. If you choose reformat then you will have to manually load all other software such as word and excel.
Just save yourself the headache and do the factory settings.
2006-11-09 02:01:26 · answer #5 · answered by Andrew B. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems.
Some RAM/ hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful
2006-11-09 02:13:33 · answer #6 · answered by RAS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋