Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Just bought a used Sony Viao and want to be sure it's clean!

Jan 19, 2013 11:00AM PST

Model VGN-FW. It was wiped (restored to factory settings) upon purchase, but I kept seeing the previous owner's folder under users. Want to be sure they don't somehow have access.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Well
Jan 19, 2013 9:01PM PST

Assuming you have the restore disc.

Run a pass of Dban....use google......then spin in the restore disc.

- Collapse -
Cleaning used Sony Viao
Jan 20, 2013 1:45AM PST

...no, forgot that important note: I do not have the restore disc.

- Collapse -
Answer
That's proper.
Jan 20, 2013 12:55AM PST

On the setup it does that. And NO! You may not rename the folder. You could reinstall/restore to factory (see documentation) or use the restore media and if you only want to change the folder name, you do so just like we've done since about 2000 (13 years!)

How? Create a new admin capable user (I'd make 2!) then log out and into the new user. Now you can remove the old user (if you ask how, you were just there in the control panel....) and when you do that, Windows will ask if you want to remove the user's files. Answer yes.
Bob

- Collapse -
Cleaning used Sony Viao
Jan 20, 2013 2:08AM PST

I, unfortunately, do not have the restore disc nor any documentation to which to refer, so your advise is greatly appreciated. Will the system restore and adding and deleting of admin users do the trick?

- Collapse -
I don't see why not.
Jan 20, 2013 3:34AM PST

What I noted about user accounts has been around for many years. I didn't add any new tricks or twists to the process so I have to make an assumption this is your first PC.

Given that, you must backup the entire machine before you do any work.
Bob

- Collapse -
Cleaning Sony Viao
Jan 20, 2013 4:10AM PST

Yes, It's my first used computer. How do I do a back up?

- Collapse -
Backing up your computer
Jan 20, 2013 4:14AM PST

I suggest you get away from the Windows backup program and get yourself a good commercial backup program. I've seen forums fraught with problem reports for the Windows one. I know I was very unimpressed when I tried it. Three I'm familiar with and like are Norton Ghost (which I've been using for 8 years without the 1st problem), Easeus Todo Backup Free, which you can download from http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm and Memeo which has a 30 day free trial and you can buy it for $29.99 - you can download it from http://memeo.com . You can get Ghost for next to nothing (like I did) if you watch the sales.
The March 2012 issue of PC World was very high on the FREE program from Easeus and so is CNET. In my experience with a variety of configurations I have to say I'm very impressed. Like Ghost it will back up to a networked drive, and it will create a boot CD for when your PC won't boot. See CNET's review of it at
http://download.cnet.com/Easeus-Todo-Backup-Free/3000-2242_4-10964460.html?tag=mncol;1#editorsreview .
-
CNET has a lot of backup program reviews at
http://download.cnet.com/windows/backup-software/?tag=contentBody;sideBar .

Some of these are free (last time I checked there were over 300), some have free trials (over 1000), and some are purchase only (over 200).
-
External hard drives are best for backup. You can get a 500 GB one for around $60 and a 1 TB one for around $70. You can also buy a 32 GB flash drive for under $15. It's the best insurance you can ever buy!

-
I hope this helps. Good luck