[Solved] A "dedicated" computer ?

[Hafoi Bin Ereafower]

Many salutations chaps - have not been here seeking your help for many moons - as the world has kept turning together with my electronicary stuff.

 

Now though although all is still well with the Ereafower gizmo's I have a question which troubles me and it's to do with W10 - - well maybe not - but is in a round about sort of way.

 

The story - - - - I first came to these boards seeking help for an ailing Acer and that very nice man KenB set me straight - once fixed it soldiered on for for many a year in wife's hands till finally it's Vista OS started to give up the ghost - and I came back and got it sorted again - it went in the cupboard when I inherited a Dell Inspiron and before I could use it - another nice man called Starbuck helped me with a booting prob. So I've now got an estate of two W10 laptops, one aging Samsung Android smartphone and a middle aged Samsung Tablet.

 

Ye gods I hear you crying will he ever come to the point ! - - - well here goes.

 

In this lockdown and as an Aged P - - - after many years of resistance I've been forced into Internet banking and I hate it because it makes me feel insecure - so Dear Chap's here's my question - can I dig my old Acer out of it's cupboard and get it's W10 OS to wipe everything off the laptop - leaving just W10 - - the old Acer would then just get used for one sole purpose and not used for tinterwebby things. The plan would be to continue using W10's antivirus stuff.

 

Is it a plan - or is it barmy - even if it's barmy can it be done ?

 

Your's,

 

HBE

Edited July 2, 2020 by KenB

[KenB]

Hi HBE

 

Thank you for your kind comments :)

 

Question:

You refer to your Acer Laptop.

Originally you say that this had Vista on it.

You then say that the old Acer has Win10 on it.

 

Have you upgraded the OS from Vista to Win 10 ?

Or am I reading your post wrong?

 

===========================

 

You certainly can wipe everything off the hard disk leaving Win 10.

 

 

If you upgraded to Win 10 from Vista or Win 8 you may see a third option.

“Restore Factory Settings”

DO NOT select this as it will revert your laptop to the original OS and NOT Win 10.

 

 

If you are removing "everything" then photos, files etc. would need to be copied to another drive if you wish to keep these.

 

This process is "Resetting The PC"

Take a look here - click here

 

If you want to have internet access after removing everything you would probably need to reinstall the drivers

of the wireless adapter if Windows doesn't do it automatically.

===========================

 

Your intention to use Win 10 antivirus is fine.

Win 10 comes with "Defender" installed and this AV is perfectly fine.

Edited June 30, 2020 by KenB

[Starbuck]

Hi HBE,

 

can I dig my old Acer out of it's cupboard and get it's W10 OS to wipe everything off the laptop - leaving just W10 - - the old Acer would then just get used for one sole purpose and not used for tinterwebby things.

Using the reset advice given by KenB and then using the 'Remove Everything' option will certainly achieve what you are after.

[Hafoi Bin Ereafower]

What Ho Chap's - - as ever you come up trump's - - that's not Donald you understand !

 

First off - my apologies I was not crystal in my explanation about my old Acer - - it was born with Vista - - then - to get to W10 (after various MS deadlines being missed) I updated to W8 so I could get (free) to W10 - - - so after my usual long winded explanation - yes it does have W10.

 

Your description of how to provide me with a sole use lap top just for banking will be applied and when done I'll report back.

 

Best wishes,

 

HBE

[KenB]

Let us know how you get on.

 

Before you start - in the search box [ bottom left of screen ] type ..... devmgmt.msc .... hit Enter.

In Device Manager click the > next to "network Adapters"

Make an exact copy of what is listed.

You may need this later after Resetting the laptop.

[Hafoi Bin Ereafower]

Well - that took a long time - several hours in fact as the resetting software whizzed away doing it's stuff.

 

Followed instructions (except the one about network adapters as only just seen that) and all seems to have gone well.

 

I did back up all the old files to a separate storage disc everything I wanted to keep - and these files will only ever be accessed by a "day to day" use computer -not the now single use Acer.

 

My only other observation would be - - what a load unneeded "guff" get's stuck on a reload of W10 that I had to go through to uninstall - - from games to unwanted MS software. Only thing I couldn't find a quick way of getting rid of was XBox - so that remains but nothing else. I also loved the way Cortana guides you through the install of all this pernicious stuff in the most delightful way using the most persuasive of language to convince the installer it really really is just what you most desparately need to make your life complete.

 

Needless to say I resisted her "temptations" and also went through all the permissions and turned em off - as it will be single use I don't need "suggestions" !!!

 

Checked to see Defender was on and Hey Presto - all seems well.

 

Thank you once again chaps - it's great to know you are here to help.

 

Your's,

 

HBE.

[KenB]

Hi HBE,

 

Glad that it all went well for you.

 

I will chalk this up as "Solved" :)