How to reformat a Netbook? (Dell Mini 10v)

[fattty]

Hmm.. not really. just some pictures, school stuff. My main concern is that they somehow get my passwords, and other things i entered online. My parents have gone on paypal and ebay and I don't want their accounts to be stolen if that is even possible. Also, I have made lots of tweaks and lots of modifications. (like right now my windows xp looks like windows 7, custom fonts, sounds, and all that) I just want it wiped clean so it is back to what it was when i first got it so the buyer has no problems.

If there is a program that can delete my files, then that would be great because I have about 70 gigabytes of files on there and tons of programs that would take ages to uninstall and delete one by one.

Thanks again for putting up with my noobiness guys!

 

[johnb35]

You will need to find a way to format and reinstall windows. Look in your manual on how to reinstall windows.

 

[Drenlin]

I was thinking, since i haven't put in credit card numbers on this netbook, could i just right click the C: drive and click format?

Nope, like JohnB said, Windows won't do that. Actually, as far as I know, no OS will...that's the digital equivalent of trying to eat your own head.

What you CAN do, if you have a desktop, is put the hard drive in there and format it, but that'll erase windows for good. Try this first:

When you turn the netbook on, immediately keep tapping F8. It should take you to a menu with a few options on how to boot windows. There should be a "repair your computer" option. Using that, there should be a way to restore your computer to factory settings.

 

[dannaswolcott]

i got in the mail yesterday for my birthday today. it was an Asus Eee and surprised it had a installation cd for windows home and all the drivers.

Got the same netbook, I love it best ever...


You may have to create an USB bootable installer in order to reformat and install windows. I am not sure if dell has a recovery partition since I dont work on dells often, But If I can remanmber last the new dell netbooks have the recovery partition in them.

 

[Drenlin]

Just looked it up. It's not F8. On mini 10's with a recovery partition, you hit CTRL + F11 as the BIOS loads. Apparently, not all of them have one....good luck.

 

[fattty]

When you turn the netbook on, immediately keep tapping F8. It should take you to a menu with a few options on how to boot windows. There should be a "repair your computer" option. Using that, there should be a way to restore your computer to factory settings.

I got into bios and under the boot menu it only says Hard drive, cd/dvd drive, etc. Nothing about resotring or repairing. I will take a picture to show you guys after school!

Thanks for putting up with me again!!!

 

[natashamartin]

If you are using a Dell notebook, I think there is a way to do a PC restore which will allow you to go back to its factory settings. You just need to follow the instructions carefully as it appeared on their guide. I found this information online & I hope it helps you.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=3E48AE3870775D64E040A68F5B2877D4&journalid=82C256FC73DE4BE3E040AC0A66E91DEB&Query=&SystemID=&ServiceTag=&contenttype=&os=&component=&lang=&doclang=&toggle=&dl=

 

[Drenlin]

I got into bios and under the boot menu it only says Hard drive, cd/dvd drive, etc. Nothing about resotring or repairing. I will take a picture to show you guys after school!

Thanks for putting up with me again!!!

I was wrong, it's not F8 on these. Normally, you'd use the process that natashamartin posted, but from what I've read, the newer models are different. Try CTRL + F12 instead of F8?

 

[fattty]

If you are using a Dell notebook, I think there is a way to do a PC restore which will allow you to go back to its factory settings. You just need to follow the instructions carefully as it appeared on their guide. I found this information online & I hope it helps you.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=3E48AE3870775D64E040A68F5B2877D4&journalid=82C256FC73DE4BE3E040AC0A66E91DEB&Query=&SystemID=&ServiceTag=&contenttype=&os=&component=&lang=&doclang=&toggle=&dl=

Thanks for this, but i think t hat is for vista or windows 7.

...Anyways, the problem is fixed. I deleted everything from my hard drive, uninstalled like 99% of programs, deleted some unecessary folders in Appdata etc, used ccleaner and another program to wipe free disk space.
I should be good, but if not, there is nothing to do about it. I just shipped it out today. Now onto finding a laptop to buy!!! p.s. Thanks everyone!!