Answer Line: Prep an Old PC for a New Home
Get an old PC ready for a new home, automate shutdown maintenance.
Lincoln Spector
From the July 2001 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Friday, May 18, 2001
I recently purchased a new computer and
would like to give away my old machine. How should I
prepare the old PC for use by its new owners?
Victoria Bernhardt, Brewster, New
York
First you need to transfer your data files
from the old computer to the new one. You can use a CD-RW,
a Zip drive, a network, or a simple cable connection.
You'll want to transfer all the files now in C:\My
Documents and C:\Windows\Application Data. If you or your
applications also store files somewhere else, find out
where the files are (using Windows' Find/Search feature if
necessary) and copy those as well.
Next, destroy any sensitive files that you
do not want the new owners to see. Simply deleting such
files won't do, because a deleted file can be
recovered--even from a reformatted drive.
You may already have a program that can
overwrite data so it can't be recovered. Norton Utilities,
for instance, comes with an application called WipeInfo,
which will securely delete a file or folder, or the
"deleted" data in the free space of your drive.
If you lack such a program, download the
free version of Ontrack's
wonderful PowerDesk file manager, which you'll find at our Downloads library and at the vendor's site. PowerDesk lets you
permanently erase a file or folder by selecting File, Destroy.
Once you've destroyed your sensitive files,
reformat the hard drive and reinstall your operating
system. Windows tends to collect bugs and incompatibilities
that can make it unstable after just a few short months of
use. This will let the new owners start off with a clean
slate.
To reformat your hard drive and reinstall
Windows 98/Me, follow the instructions on the restoration
CD your hardware vendor supplied.
The process is more complicated when you use
a Windows CD-ROM, however. First, you have to create a
Windows start-up disk on your new PC. Next, select Start, Settings, Control
Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon, choose the Startup Disk tab, then
click the Create Disk button and
follow the prompts. Put the start-up disk in your old PC's
floppy drive and your Windows CD in the old system's CD-ROM
drive, then reboot. You'll get a simple text menu. Select
the option Start computer with CD-ROM
Support.
That sequence will eventually bring you to
an A> DOS prompt. To ensure access to the CD-ROM drive,
type dir x:, where x is the letter after the one you normally use for
that drive. For instance, if the CD-ROM drive is D:, type dir e:. If you get a list
of folders and files that includes setup.exe, you're ready
for the next step. (If you don't see the list, try
re-creating the Startup disk, perhaps on the old
PC.)
Type a: if you're not at the
A> prompt again, and enter format c:. When asked if
you're sure, press y, then Enter. The next time
you're at the A> prompt, type x:setup ( x is the drive letter you entered
above). Press Enter and follow the
prompts.
Reload any programs that came with the PC,
including Windows and hardware drivers, and reload any
upgrades to these programs. Most software you purchased
separately can be reloaded onto the old PC or added to the
new one, but check your licensing agreements first. Note
that it is almost always illegal to put the software on
both the old and the new machine.
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