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Question

XP System - Need to Wipe Clean

Jun 28, 2012 12:09AM PDT

got a used laptop from a family member who moved out of the county for new job.

I am trying to wipe the system clean and reinstall XP and am unsuccessful.

I cant get into the "Admin" account (user) on the computer...not sure i need to? Perhaps there is another way? the user (my cousin) has limited rights. her previous company went out of business and let employees keep their laptops.

Please help. Thank you

Danielle

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Long story short
Jun 28, 2012 12:22AM PDT

Long story short, unless you or your cousin has the restore media for the laptop, or possibly the restore media is on the laptop HDD, you're kind of SOL unless you go out and buy a copy of Windows. You can contact the manufacturer of the laptop and see if they would be willing to send you a copy of the restore media for a small fee, but if it was running XP there's a good chance they no longer have copies of the restore media to send.

For numerous legal reasons, you would want to completely wipe all software off of the computer, so if for any number of reasons you're not able to put Windows on there, it might be a good opportunity to learn a little about Linux. Or just sell the laptop to someone else.

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Re: Long story short
Jun 28, 2012 12:45AM PDT

Yes, i want to get rid of everything.

I have a copy of Windows XP, so thats okay.

I just dont know how to wipe clean and install the new OS

Danielle

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They show how at many places.
Jun 28, 2012 1:38AM PDT
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Answer
Wipe clean
Jul 3, 2012 8:43PM PDT

If it ain't broke don't fix it..... try some system clean software that you can find on CNET.