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boss got a laptop at a pawn store...
Angel177
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
and he expects me to wipe it but having had almost no PC experience I'm a little :?
basically it has 3 accounts one unlocked and the other 2 have passwords in the unlocked account it shows that the HD is almost full but the local disk is empty and I'm worried that if I wipe it I won't be able to get the OS back.
so I turn to the wonder of the Help and Advice forum!
basically it has 3 accounts one unlocked and the other 2 have passwords in the unlocked account it shows that the HD is almost full but the local disk is empty and I'm worried that if I wipe it I won't be able to get the OS back.
so I turn to the wonder of the Help and Advice forum!
Angel177 on
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Tell your boss to pony up for a new OS and just wipe the drive and install it.
That doesn't mean it wasn't originally stolen.
It seems awfully strange that someone would just sell a laptop with active accounts, a full hard drive, and presumably sensitive documents to a pawn store without wiping it themselves or at least removing their data?
Some people are stupid.
Still, you can check with the local police, see if they have a database where they can look it up by serial number.
People who pawn stuff generally expect to get it back. That's why they take it to a pawn shop instead of selling it.
If you want to learn how to do this, go ahead and take on the project. If you don't want to learn this skill, then the best thing to do is to advise your boss to take it to a professional. The sooner you learn to say "no, I'm not the right person for this task" at work the easier your life is going to be.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
This will almost certainly be cheaper than the time you'll spend (labor-hour, wise) trying to figure the shit out. Buy a copy of Windows, wipe the drive, install, done.
Especially since even if you managed to get the accounts unlocked, deleted, etc...you'd still have a Windows install with god-knows-what kind of bullshit scattered across the hard drive. Particularly if it's XP; people re-install that OS yearly when it's their own computers, obviously you'd want to do it for somebody else's that you're bringing in.
Also of concern is the possibility of all kinds of malware/viruses/etc., which you don't want to bring into your workplace/network.
You don't want to be your boss's computer bitch. If he has any problems (aka infests with worms and whatnot looking at porn), he's going to come to you to clean it. Are you willing to do free tech support as long as you work there? I wouldn't be.
It's not a skill. It's "Pop in a new OS CD and done". This is a weird tangent that I don't think the OP was asking about.
While simple at the front it can present many complications (ie: The driver issues someone else mentioned earlier).
On top of this, if the OP does this and something goes wrong (ie: turns out the video card was on it's last leg or something) he'll be liable to fix it and what's worse, his boss will just assume he'll do it.
Or he could return it to the pawnshop because it's defective? I've installed new OSs on quite a few laptops and never run into an issue. You're making an awful lot of assumptions about the boss. All the OP asked was how to get the laptop going, not how to maintain his relationship with his boss.
EDIT: OP, what make and model is the laptop out of curiosity?
Yeah, that's WAY oversimplified. Sipex is right, once the OS is loaded, you still have many miles to go before you sleep.
What brand is it and what OS is on it right now? It very likely has a built-in recovery partition that can be used to restore it to factory condition.
Be prepared to be his PC tech. Anything that happens from this point on is your fault. It's not really, but they'll say it is.
Yep, pretty much. Opening the can of worms is simple. It's what happens after it's open that's the problem.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with what the OP is asking.
EDIT: It's that or the OP can say, "I don't know anything about PCs. Take it in somewhere." like you said, but again, not what he's asking.
Usually I'd be right with you there Esh, I'm usually big on advocating "Who cares what the situation is, this is what the OP needs." but in this case the OP has posted reservations about doing the project at all and I think it's important that he/she knows what they may be getting into.
I'll let you worry about being the techbitch in the office. You asked about how its done, this is it:
Before you begin: Get the model and manufacturer data and look at the company website for the drivers for the you'll need. Most important are usually - Network, Motherboard, Video & Sound - in that order.
First - get a Windows CD - preferrably whatever version it already has.
Insert windows CD and reboot machine. During reboot process, look for something that says "Strike any key to boot from CD" and hit any key.
From there it will begin the process of installing the OS.
There is an option that allow you to delete the existing partition - I would recommend you just delete the partition and then have it Reformat the drive to NTFS - Quick Format (You'll see an option on the install process).
Once this is completed, the install process will continue and have you setup your user accounts and register your copy of windows, etc.
When you get into windows, you'll need to install those drivers you were looking at before you began. Each will need to be installed one at a time, and often will require one, if not multiple reboots.
Once the drivers are installed, you will most likely need to install whatever the Boss wants for software - MS office, Open office, Firefox, Opera, etc.
I'd say just to post your problems as you run into them, but considering the level of crap thats goin on in this thread...you can just PM me if you get stuck.
Stolen and not claimed is rare.
OP has what he needs, thread over.