reset win xp to original

[Renner]

Having been given a pc with win xp home on it, I was wondering what the best way would be to set it back to it's original settings and get rid of the stuff thats on it from the previous owner?

[ktkendall]

Did you get the winXP disk with it?

[Renner]

I recieved a recovery disk with it.

[jayb1234]

Did you get the XP disk or restore disk that came with it if a name brand, or the XP disk if homebuilt?

If name brand what make and model is it?

You may have a hidden restore partition on it that can be used to revert windows to as shipped status, but might need other disks that shipped with it for drivers, utilities and factory installed programs.

Let us know what disks you have and someone will let you know what to do.

[glc]

If you received a recovery disk, that's what you need. How to use it to do a complete wipe and restore depends on what brand computer it is, a lot of recovery disks can do a nondestructive or a destructive reinstall.