Making a laptop 'brand new'.

[tonyvella]

2 years ago I bought an HP laptop with Windows 7 pre-installed. Of course, since then I have installed some 20 programs. What I would like to do is to make the laptop 'brand new', in other words get rid of everything and end up with a laptop with only Windows 7. However, it would take me a lifetime to uninstall each program individually so I was seeking advice as to how I can perform this project in one fell swoop. Can it even be done? The laptop did not come with a Windows 7 disc so that might present a problem.

Any advice or directions would be appreciated in advance.

Tony V.

 

[Snick]

Hi tonyvella,

You should be able to use factory reset to reestablish your computer condition to "NEW" status, i.e. as it was when the computer was shipped from HP. Your computer contains a recovery partition (hidden).

Video on enabling view of hidden recovery partition.
Hidden partition
Resetting laptop to factory condition.
HP PCs - How to Reset Your Computer to Factory Settings

Nic

 

[Megahertz07]

For the updates, disable WU and use SP2 and then install the Security only updates
MS releases SP2 for Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[Snick]

Thanks for the added info and link Megahertz07!