Posted: 12/18/2011 6:40:46 PM EDT
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I am looking at buying a used laptop for cheap. The guy was told it has spyware on it and since it is 4 years old, he doesn't want to spend any money on it. I can get it for about $50 as is and let my kids use it for homework and playing games Before I buy it, I asked a friend about reformating and reloading Windows and he said I need a copy of Windows and an activation key. the PC had a copy of Windows from the factory and the Microsoft decal is on it. If the seller does not have the orginal disk, (who knows if it even came it it) how can I legally do this? it does not seem like I would have to purchase another copy of Windows just to reload it onto a machine that came with it. |
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You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install.
To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? |
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Quoted: You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install. To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? the battery is only about 6 months old. It is a Compaq I think HP Compaq but not for sure I fogot about Linux, it is free is it not?
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You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install. To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? the battery is only about 6 months old. It is a Compaq I think HP Compaq but not for sure I fogot about Linux, it is free is it not? Mint is good Or Ubuntu |
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You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install. To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? the battery is only about 6 months old. It is a Compaq I think HP Compaq but not for sure I fogot about Linux, it is free is it not? Sure is! |
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Quoted: Legally, yes. It is a licensed copy of windows. The toPGA part would be getting the recovery disks that match the key type. If its for the kids to do basic stuff with consider Linux. mostly using it to surf the web and maybe run a spread sheet or two, I know hardly anything about Linux do you download it on another machine and make a disk that way?
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Most of the laptops that I come across these days have a recovery partition built in where you can do a system restore without the recovery disks. When the computer is booting up, you press a certain key sequence depending on the make and model, (possibly F11 or F12) which will allow you to restore the computer to a fresh install of Windows and factory software. Most manufacturers decided that it is cheaper and easier to do it this way as compared to shipping recovery disks that are easily lost. Let us know the make/model and we might be able to look it up. It's always possible the recovery partition was deleted or is not present to begin with, but it is definitely the first place that I would check.
If not, you should be able to do a fresh install of windows with the key on the Microsoft decal. Re-installing all of the hardware drivers will be the hard part, but still do-able. No, you probably don't want to try and get Linux working on it. |
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Legally, yes. It is a licensed copy of windows. The toPGA part would be getting the recovery disks that match the key type. If its for the kids to do basic stuff with consider Linux. mostly using it to surf the web and maybe run a spread sheet or two, I know hardly anything about Linux do you download it on another machine and make a disk that way? I'd suggest Ubuntu. Download and burn the DVD on another machine and install it. Has a slick interface and I'm pretty sure the desktop version comes with OpenOffice. |
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Most of the laptops that I come across these days have a recovery partition built in where you can do a system restore without the recovery disks. When the computer is booting up, you press a certain key sequence depending on the make and model, (possibly F11 or F12) which will allow you to restore the computer to a fresh install of Windows and factory software. Most manufacturers decided that it is cheaper and easier to do it this way as compared to shipping recovery disks that are easily lost. Let us know the make/model and we might be able to look it up. It's always possible the recovery partition was deleted or is not present to begin with, but it is definitely the first place that I would check. If not, you should be able to do a fresh install of windows with the key on the Microsoft decal. Re-installing all of the hardware drivers will be the hard part, but still do-able. No, you probably don't want to try and get Linux working on it. If you go the Windows route, HP probably has a web page for drivers and such for their computers. You will have to manually download and install a lot of drivers. ETA: If you go the linux route, you will probably have to install some drivers too. |
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You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install. To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? the battery is only about 6 months old. It is a Compaq I think HP Compaq but not for sure I fogot about Linux, it is free is it not? Hp owns compaq. Linux is free but not windows and not as point and click friendly. It's not real easy to get every windows app to run on either but for general surfing and school work it will be smooth provided driver support. I'll put another vote up for mint to start on but haven't tried the newest realeases. You have a few ways to go. |
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since it has a new battery, I guess I'll pay $50 for it if it looks decent. can't be that bad to fix, and it'll give me something to surf ARFCOM on from my workshop  If you don't trust the person real well tell them to charge it up before you get there. Then when you look at it unplug it and fire it up. If the battery is junk it will be at 3/4 -1/2 in about a half hour. |
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Quoted: Quoted: since it has a new battery, I guess I'll pay $50 for it if it looks decent. can't be that bad to fix, and it'll give me something to surf ARFCOM on from my workshop If you don't trust the person real well tell them to charge it up before you get there. Then when you look at it unplug it and fire it up. If the battery is junk it will be at 3/4 -1/2 in about a half hour. good advice- he said he kept the old battery as well, so if he has that and there is one in there, I should be gtg |
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just doenload magical jelly bean/keyfinder that will give you the key to the windows on the machine already All that when you can look at the sticker on the bottom? I think he's wanting a fresh install. Or maybe it doesn't even work, i don't know. Op another tip is follow the fafsa you can run by deals on newer laptops. |
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Quoted: You'll need a disc from the manufacturer to use the key on the laptop, you may be able to pick one up on ebay. I got this laptop today. It has the orginal box and the microsoft decal is on it. the paper that came with it says you do not need a disk to restore the system I found the spyware/virus that is on there it is called "System Fix" if I go the restore route, do you think that will take that away?
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You might have to order disc from the manufacturer for about $30 if he doesn't have them. If you can get your own version from say a student you might be able to save some coin. Always linux if you are real cheap or just clean the install. To be honest $50 for a 4 year old infected laptop is kinda high. Oh and a battery is atleast another $30 if you want to use it as a laptop. Happen to know the model and specs? This. You may be able to get the recovery discs from the manufacturer - if the computer isnt too old. However depending on the virus... it may or may not let you reload windows. but yes, you may find that it's more trouble than it's worth depending on what's on it. |
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You'll need a disc from the manufacturer to use the key on the laptop, you may be able to pick one up on ebay. I got this laptop today. It has the orginal box and the microsoft decal is on it. the paper that came with it says you do not need a disk to restore the system I found the spyware/virus that is on there it is called "System Fix" if I go the restore route, do you think that will take that away? You could try removing the infection, yourself. Bleepingcomputer.com has a removal guide, over here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-fix If that fails, you can then do the 'flush-restore' route. Good Luck |
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Quoted: post the brand and model number of the laptop please Compaq Presario C302NR Notebool PC here is what i have done I see the system fix icon in the desk top, I have not clicked on it. this is the malware the guy said he downloaded by mistake so far it does not seem to be screwing with the OS at all It let me download Malware Bytes and run the removal tool but it let the icon on the desktop, which I don't know what to do with I did a defrag and disk error check after I ran the removal tool then I went to Bleepingcomputer.com, like the guy said to do above and ran through the manual steps to remove it, booting into safe move, running Rkill, etc., etc the machine seems to be running smooth. for now, though I am not letting anyone log into any of our normal sites on the suspect machine. no log ins, passwords, or any private info.. just surfing and playing games I still want to do a fresh install or a system restore so that just in case the guy I bought it from had anything bad on it, I want it gone that way, I would feel safe letting my kids on it and also using it to log into sites like Ebay and Amazon and buying things |