[karinc10]

Hello all, I am a newbie so if my questions sre very novice..I apologise. I have just bought a laptop off a friend as they have a new one. I have deleted their old user accounts and all files belonging to them. The XP operating system is still registered to their name. If I put my own windows disc in and run this will i be able to put in my own details. Will SP2 stay on the laptop? I do not have this on my main PC.

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if you go ahead and reformat the pc with your version of xp (probably a good idea to clean off any of the old user's mistakes) it will wipe all data from the disk. if you don't have an xp disk with sp2 you can download the administrative install of it from windows and just install it on the laptop. i would suggest just doing a full format reinstall on the laptop. not only to ensure that it is clean but also because it is a good idea to get well practiced in this task

[dsenette]

if you go ahead and reformat the pc with your version of xp (probably a good idea to clean off any of the old user's mistakes) it will wipe all data from the disk. if you don't have an xp disk with sp2 you can download the administrative install of it from windows and just install it on the laptop. i would suggest just doing a full format reinstall on the laptop. not only to ensure that it is clean but also because it is a good idea to get well practiced in this task

[karinc10]

I didn't really want to do a full reinstall as some of the original discs are missing and i know from\ experience how long it can take to reinstall all drivers etc without the original discs. Thanks for your advice tho

[gerryf]

what information?

the stuff on the system properties general tab?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

That should be in the above key--open regedit and navigate to there.

btw....when he gave you this PC, he gave you the windows disk and the COA, right?

[karinc10]

all he could find was the ati driver sw disc, so that is all I have with it. I do have my own windows disc tho from my desktop.

[jakestaby]

A word of advice. It won't work to register the software automatically. You'll have to call Microsoft and do it over the phone. I'm not sure about their exact policies, but chances are they'll deny you if you say you bought a new computer and you're putting it on there. They'll tell you that you need another license.

Instead, tell them that you replaced your motherboard or another peice of hardware, as this will require the software to be reactivated over the phone in any case.

[karinc10]

Thx for that it's much appreciated. I never realised there was so much that had to be sorted!!!