BleepingComputer.com: How Do I Restore A Pc Purchased As "display Model"

I just purchased an HP Media Center PC with Vista Ultimate from Sam's; however, it was the display model. Sam's Club has created a user account on it called "Sams" and has obviously gone through the initial set-ups that are performed when you power up a brand new PC. If its possible, I would like to have the PC set to the original factory defaults so I can go through the entire user set-up myself. I have read through the restore topics, but I'm not sure what applies to this situation.

There are two user accounts "Sams" and "Guest" and I logged into "Sams" successfully and without a password.

I am definitely not a PC guru and need some advice on the correct way to do this. Thanks!

In the lower right of the screen, when the computer starts and you see the Blue HP Logo, is should say press {F10} for system restore. Start tapping this key, read the on screen instructions to do the format and restore You can also read HP's instruction page on windows vista

Make your restore disks as soon as this is done. You will need two or three dvds and one cd.

Some HP machines only require one CD, as mine only needed one and I have an HP Pavillion DV9xxx.

There's nothing like the first time you start up your machine and Vista welcomes you.... ahhh....

*PS: Let's hope you got a discount for the display model...*

Fire the computer and start "tapping" F11, untill you see "Windows is Loading Files" that will start the "Recovery Manager" and will guide you to roll it back your box/nb to Factory settings. When you finish doing this you can go to Start>All programs and look for "HP Recovery Manager" and choose "Create a Recovery DVD" It will go in one single DVD.

You can always call and get the Recovery DVD, but it will cost, at least shipping&Handling.

Always good to do this when you change the owner of a box.



Mav

Thanks for the info... I think I'll be able to get this done now. I just wasn't sure which process to use.

I normally would have stayed away from the display model; however, this PC was a fantastic deal (I think). Since Sam's Club has a SIX month return policy on PC's, I figured I could take it back if I had problems. To be honest, I'm not sure what everything in the Spec list actually means, but here it is...

PRICE: $1,225

HP Pavilion Media Center m8067c-b TV PC
HP W2207 Monitor
Windows Vista Ultimate
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2048MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM
500GB 7200RPM Serial ATA Drive
HD DVD Player
SuperMulti DVD w/LightScribe
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT w/TV out & Dual DVI capabilities
Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
HP VGA Webcam
15-in-1 card reader
56 K Modem
Wireless Keyboard & Optical Mouse w/ext range up to 30ft
PVR w/instant replay, up to 305 hrs video archiving
FM Tuner w/antenna
HP Media Center remote control w/infrared receiver

It also came with Norton Internet Security 2007 and I want this off my PC!!! I have never had a good experience with Norton including uninstalling it.

Anyone know how I can completely remove this software? I attempted this on my old PC about a year after I got it using the Windows uninstall feature, but three years later, there are still remnants of this software!


Thanks!!

The best way to eliminate Norton is to run the uninstaller(s) in the add/remove programs, then restart the computer and then run the Norton Removal Tool and restart once more. Please be sure to use the top tool in the list.