How can I restore a macbook to factory settings?

Question

I bought a used macbook. Is there an easy way to reset it to factory settings? It seems to have the previous owners ID and stuff. Thanks for your help

Answer 1

There is at least 2 ways :-)

1) if you have the original OS X disc that shipped with the machine, you can use it reformat the machine and re-install the OS -- that's probably the best way to ensure that everything is the same way as it was when it shipped form the factory.

Put the DVD disc in the drive and reboot your computer - press C when rebooting to boot from the DVD drive -- now proceed to reformat and reinstall OS X.

2) the other option is to create a new user account with your name, make it a administrator. Log out and log back in with your new account, now proceed to delete the old user account -- this will delete all of the personal files from the original account -- note: this will not un-install any system wide applications or restore other OS X setting that may have been modified by the original owner.

Good luck

Answer 2

did you buy it from an authorized retailer or from a friend? If you bought it from a retailer, the macbook should have come with a disc labeled "Mac OSX Tiger" (if you bought it from a friend, hopefully they gave you this disc!).

Put it in the CD-ROM, click on "install Tiger" and it will restart the mac. A dialog box will come up, click on options, then choose "erase and install".

THIS WILL ERASE ALL THE DATA ON THE HARD DRIVE!! so make sure you have what you need backed up.

follow the instructions on the screen and you should be done in about 15 minutes.