HEY, I AM SELLING MY LAPTOP ON EBAY. HOWEVER, I NEED TO RESTORE IT TO THE FACTORY SETTINGS, WITHOUT ERASING THE O.S.! CAN ANYONE HELP ME OUT? THANKS, GRANT PENGUINBOY86@JUNO.COM Thanks, Grant Kimball Penguinboy86@juno.com

There is no easy, non-technical way to wipe (delete) all your personal data without wiping/formatting the entire drive, which removes the OS also. Then, of course, you will have to reinstall an OS. Some of your personal data may be stored within the OS folders on the drive. Why not sell the laptop without an OS? Is this what you mean by "factory settings"?

Hi Grant, Rick, hello everyone End the auction now and sell it to me as I am the only bidder. :-) You then can ship it without an operating system. :-) Use the restore disk that came with the laptop, if one did. This will format and reinstall all of the software that came with the computer, restoring it to the factory condition. Format and install Win98. Manually remove all of the Programs, emails, documents, favorites, index.dat files, registry entries ect... Best Regards, Mesich

Hey Mesich, Didn't you already get a replacement laptop for your dad?

Hi Grant, Rick, Othehill, hello everyone Othehill, Yes, my dad did get a new laptop. :-) He is happy with it now that everything has been restored from his previous backups. One thing we found was that on the "brand new" laptop, he could not use the touchpad to click. :-( I could not believe it and thought it was some setting that may need to be changed for the touchpad. I went to a local store that had the same laptop and to my surprise no such animal on that particular model. A PII with the specs that were indicated could be very useful for many different things. I've got a 286 and a 386 desktop down in the car that I will find use for. I hope all is well with you and yours. Best Regards, Mesich

SYSTEM.1ST Non-OEM versions of Windows95 (Win95 installed either as an upgrade from Win3.1 or as a standalone operating system from a Win95 CD) come with a file named SYSTEM.1ST. System.1st is a copy of the "no-frills" basic SYSTEM.DAT as it is installed with Windows95 (prior to adding any hardware or software). In more severe cases of Registry corruption this file can be restored in the place of a damaged SYSTEM.DAT. This will have numerous consequances as all hardware and most software will have to be reinstalled as their configuration data and links to the Registry will be broken, however in some situations this may be preferable to the unpleasant alternative, a Product Recovery. This file is NOT available on Aptiva systems with Windows95 as the preloaded operating system, however thanks to David Tuck of IBM I have a copy which I am providing via direct email to those in need of it. Those who wish a copy should click HERE Replacing a corrupt SYSTEM.DAT with SYSTEM.1ST Place a copy of SYSTEM.1ST in the root Windows directory Shutdown and restart your computer When you see "Starting Windows95" tap your F8 key Choose Start In MS-DOS Mode Change to your Windows directory (C:\WINDOWS> prompt). For example, if your Windows directory is C:\Windows, you would type the following: cd c:\windows Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one: attrib -h -r -s system.dat attrib -h -r -s system.1st ren system.dat system.dud ren system.1st system.dat Tap CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart Pray if so inclined If the procedure was successful after you reboot Windows will detect all installed hardware and launch Add New Hardware. Have driver disks on hand as they will be required. Whenever you are asked to "insert your Win95 CD" or "Windows Disk #__" (and you will be asked multiple times during the process) click the Have Disk button and type C:\Windows\Options\Cabs ----------------------