the intent

the intent behind this is to make the system usable for the person who gets the machine.

what about my software?

most computers I see on craigslist don't come with the system restore cd's or the drivers cd's or the software. Legally, the OEM software belongs with the machine, not to you. If it's not a boxed copy of the software, it's probably OEM (and usually says so on the paperwork). people don't realize that the license for OEM software is only legal if it STAYS WITH THE MACHINE IT WAS FIRST INSTALLED ON.

this means it is not legal to sell your OEM software apart from the machine. it goes with the machine.

so please do the next person a favor, keep it legal, and move the OEM software right along with the machine you sell.

software that is retail, this is yours. you can keep retail/boxed software and software that you have purchased over the internet.

you may want to check the EULA to see what it says regarding transfer to a different CPU. Some software EULAs (licensing agreements) don't allow that.

regarding wiping the disk

I do not recommend this except in extreme circumstances.

I have disk wiping software that wipes the whole disk. it's better than DBAN (because it boots on more systems), but not fast. but I don't recommend it because:

• your hard disk may have an EISA Config partition (my Dell does). you DON'T want to eliminate that! On my Dell it shows up as 4GB FAT (Eisa Config).
• your hard disk may have a System Restore Partition on it. That is your Windows OS and possibly your applications that you paid for. On my Dell it shows up as 32GB FAT32 (Unknown). HP and Dell computers, at least, use System Restore partitions (on HP's it's D: and is accessed through a keypress during boot or via media), and more and more companies are doing System Restore Partitions instead of giving you the System Restore media as a "cost saving" measure. :-( Take it from me, order the media in case you get a techie who doesn't know any better and does a wipe!

the XP era System Restore Partitions typically format the section of disk that should be formatted.

getting my data off before the format

if you ended up with a virus, you can take your laptop in to have it cleaned up by a computer shop, and tell them to save your data and that it is infected and to format it fresh. provide them with your laptop cd/dvd media that came with it.

or, find a friend with a desktop or laptop, buy a 2.5" USB hard drive dock or the USB hard drive interface that handles 2.5" IDE+SATA, take your laptop drive out (you will need very small screwdrivers for this) mount the drive on the USB interface. make sure it is polarized right, and don't force!

steps to bring system to factory state for selling (or otherwise usable)

If you don't have System Restore discs, now is a good time to purchase them, they can come in handy in case of an emergency. If you don't have a PC from a major manufacturer, then buy a "full retail" copy of Windows.

1. first off, you have to get into CMOS Setup from the moot menu (F2? Delete? manufacturer dependent) and change the boot order so that the cdrom is before the hard drive.
2. save your work first and close your apps.
3. if you can, fix the filesystem. [windows-logo-flag-key]-R chkdsk /f Enter. when it asks you a question, answer Y Enter. then [windows-logo-flag-key]-R shutdown -s -f Enter. it should shut down. if it doesn't after 20 minutes, power the computer off (unless it is doing updates).
4. turn on the computer. on boot past the windows logo screen, you should see the chkdsk session running in blue. this will take an hour.
5. backup old data: burn to DVD/cd or copy to usb flash drive or usb external drive.
6. click on the safely disconnect hardware green icon in the system tray (lower right hand corner) and disconnect your usb external drive which you just backed up your data to, then disconnecct the cable after it is safe.
7. if the laptop uses system restore disc(s), insert the system restore disc and boot. If you have a system restore partition instead, you will have a special boot menu at startup prompting you to press a certain function key, so do so. system restore MAY be an earlier boot option than F8 which is what comes up when windows boots, or you may have to hit F8 repeatedly during boot to see if anything interesting comes up. I am talking about what comes up when the BIOS/Dell screen comes up. you may have to experiment with keys. could be F12, F10, don't know, but you have to watch and catch it fast.
8. install, choosing to install, full format the partition, and choose to install windows over the old NTFS partition you had. don't remove the media until it tells you to.
9. install the drivers cd/dvd(s). drivers for the motherboard/laptop/desktop first.
10. install the drivers for your other products IF you only are using the system or you are selling the collection of peripherals with the system.
11. install microsoft works, if that is what you have
12. install microsoft office upgrade, or microsoft office full or OEM, whichever you have. If you don't have an office package, you can get one for free from me which is an extravagant package of OpenOffice.org with free software and a few pieces of can't-part-with shareware, or IBM Lotus Symphony, which is more compatible with MS Office than OpenOffice.org.
13. install cd burning software and Windows Media player, Java, .Net Framework redistributable, Adobe Air, Adobe Flash, IE8.
14. install latest service packs, in order from whatever came with your OS to the latest. you will probably have to burn some cd's/dvds. note that if it is XP, you must install IE8 before SP3, or IE will be forever broken!
15. use Internet Explorer to visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install updates and reboot. repeat this step until there are no more updates.

tools for the job