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Hello, my girlfriend hardly uses her anymore so were going to eBay it. Is there an option in windows7 starter to just return it to factory settings?
[url= http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/restoring-factory-default-settings/5d96b477-f7a1-4cc7-af61-bad4bd7644c6 ]Looks like it depends on your netbook.[/url]
Is it because you want to make it nice and fresh for a potential buyer, or are you worried about sensitive data being left on the drive?
I would worry that the restore function doesn't actually delete anything on the drive, so if you do have data you want to protect, it might not be a very thorough way to do it.
Both to be honest. It's been used once or twice for online banking and paying bills, so for peace of mind on that front.
I belive in that case a restore would be ok. The data probably would still be on the hard drive somewhere, but it ought to be encrypted and would take a LOT of work to access. More than your average 'hacker' type picking up second hand gear on ebay and having a quick check for anything worthwhile on the drive would be likely to put in.
If it really has been used just a few times for one or two bank websites, then you can add a level of safety by changing passwords / ID numbers / security questions to those accounts on a different machine. Then any encrypted data on that netbook will be out of date anyway.
If I was in your exact position, I would honestly just tidy it up (maybe uninstall any programs you have added) and delete any documents or photos you have had on the PC (assuming it's nothing sensitive)... then change account passwords as I described above.. and that is all I would bother with.
So if it's just a bunch of ordinary photos and your girlfriends CV and a letter she sent to her aunt on the PC, I don't think a restore would genuinely remove them any more than deleting through Windows and making sure they are not in the recycle bin... and I would just do that and be comfortable enough. 🙂
A factory reset (manufacturer dependent, RTFM) followed by a disk defrag will be sufficient security unless you're planning on selling it to a police forensics lab.
Thanks, found a factory reset. I did RTFM it wasn't very helpful. Thanks again 🙂