I need to change the computers name

[reble]

I got 3 Dell tower computers free from my church when the towers were swapped out for new laptops. I am one of the church's audio/video tech's. The towers were used to send the videos and slideds to the overhead projector.
The OS on the towers is Win 7 32bit. I was told to wipe any church data off the hard drives. I know the easy way is to wipe the partition clean and reinstall Win 7. But I would have to reinstall with my Win 7 cd. the 2 towers that I am selling I am trying to save the OS. Rather then install my Win 7.

1st I went to the user account in the control pannel and changed the name there.
2. I left click on the start icon > right click my computer icon > scrolled down the menu to properties.
3. Then under "computer name domain, and workgroup settings" I hit the button "change settings"
4. Clicked on the button that renames the computer. Then typed in my name in the computer description box.
But I still have the church's name in navigation panel under "users > xxxx church-pc. See screen capture picture bellow. The part in the screen has a red box around it is what I am talking about. How do I fix this? 1. of the 3 dell towers I am keeping. The other 2 will be sold at a swap meet that I am going to soon.

Steve

 

[Barman58]

rename the current user back so it again matches the current folder spec

Then I suggest you use the current admin account, xxxx church-pc ??, to create a new user with admin rights to work with, A good idea is to name this Owner

Log into this new Owner account and delete the previous admin users/ users from the accounts screen - take the option to remove all files

This should give you a system with a single admin account caller Owner - ready for sale

 

[strollin]

You renamed the computer but the name you are seeing in Windows Explorer is the USER name. Follow Barman's instructions to create a new user first then delete the "xxxx church-pc" user. Make sure you use the option to delete all the user's files so you can recover the disk space taken up by those files. This will delete only that user's data files.

 

[torchwood]

Just use the Dell factory reset option on system start up, fair enough the new user will have to update, but im sure thay wont be to worried about that.

Roy

 

[paul1149]

A Reset or fresh install is best, and not difficult. But if you want to preserve the install, after you delete the existing account with its files run a data wiper on the empty drive space. CCleaner is but one prog that has this function.

 

[Layback Bear]

This tutorial by Kari has some good information that could guide you.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197255-windows-7-installation-prepare-pc-sold.html

 

[reble]

i need to change the computers name

Barman58 I did everything bellow word for word and in the right order. The user name in Windows Explorer is still just plain "xxxx church" not "xxxxx church-pc. It never was "xxxx church-pc". That's my bad.

rename the current user back so it again matches the current folder spec

Then I suggest you use the current admin account, xxxx church-pc ??, to create a new user with admin rights to work with, A good idea is to name this Owner

Log into this new Owner account and delete the previous admin users/ users from the accounts screen - take the option to remove all files

This should give you a system with a single admin account caller Owner - ready for sale

 

[strollin]

Did you create a new user called Owner with admin rights?

Did you log out from the "xxxxx church" account and log back in to the new Owner account?

Once you logged in to the new account, did you go to the accounts screen and delete any other accounts other than the Owner account and take the option to remove all files?

If you did all those steps then you should no longer see the "xxxxx church" user account in Windows Explorer (or anywhere else).

 

[reble]

i need to change the computers name

I got rid of the xxxx church account. I had to inable the Windows super administrator account in order to del the xxxx church account. Then I disabled the super administrator account. I never have the super administrator account inabled when I sell a laptop, desktop or a tower. It is to dangerous to a newbee.

Did you create a new user called Owner with admin rights?

Did you log out from the "xxxxx church" account and log back in to the new Owner account?

Once you logged in to the new account, did you go to the accounts screen and delete any other accounts other than the Owner account and take the option to remove all files?

If you did all those steps then you should no longer see the "xxxxx church" user account in Windows Explorer (or anywhere else).