Putting my Vista desktop "down" sniffle sniffle good bye

blankette · ‎03-12-2010

Here I have a brand new HP pavillon waiting to be unboxed for two weeks while I clunk away on my Vista desktop. Well, it isnt being serviced, no updates guess that makes it a high risk sitch. Any suggest for scrubbing her down before the big farewell. I had this PC for a good 8-9 years will recycle it and not sure how to clean personal info off since it is getting more dysfunctional by the day. Any other Vista die hards out there?

chessylady · ‎05-01-2010

I have a Dell running Vista that is really old. I only use it to print and to charge my fitbits. I mostly use my Ipad for everything. I do keep the security updated on the desktop. I may not get another desktop, just get a wireless printer.

blankette · ‎03-12-2010

Pretty soon though I do not think the security will work as most of it is written to run with software in service, I may be wrong. This is my concern, but where am I going to get a virus or something, no where.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

@blankette wrote:
Here I have a brand new HP pavillon waiting to be unboxed for two weeks while I clunk away on my Vista desktop. Well, it isnt being serviced, no updates guess that makes it a high risk sitch. Any suggest for scrubbing her down before the big farewell. I had this PC for a good 8-9 years will recycle it and not sure how to clean personal info off since it is getting more dysfunctional by the day. Any other Vista die hards out there?

There are programs you can run that will overwrite the drive multiple times making the data unreadable. I've used WipeDrive, I don't know if it's still available, and it works great. If it's not still made, do a google search for a program. Since your computer is so old and really unusable, I wouldn't go this route. I've done this when I was donating a computer.

People will tell you to take out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer. If you are going to take out the hard drive, you can use it as an external hard drive and store your data. All you need to do is buy an external enclosure which you can buy cheap. Once the old drive is in the enclosure, attach it to your new computer, format it and start using it. Please don't smash the hard drive then have it put into the trash.

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

Wow "Vista" software I remember having that with my first computer about 15 or 20 years ago. Now that is a blast from the past. And if memory serves me correctly I thought it was terrible. JMO

qbetzforreal · ‎08-28-2010

@apple1964 wrote:
Wow "Vista" software I remember having that with my first computer about 15 or 20 years ago. Now that is a blast from the past. And if memory serves me correctly I thought it was terrible. JMO

You couldn't have because Vista was launced in 2006. It took the place of Windows XP (which I loved). Perhaps you're thinking Windows 95 or 98. I do agree that Vista was not good.

sandraskates · ‎06-26-2014

Although I use a Windows 10 laptop daily, I have an XP machine that gets fired up once in a while for one task. I still LOVE looking at that pretty interface and the programs that went with it.

In about 2 months the task I use it for will be moved to an online service.

I'll probably give the box a funeral.

I have a Vista laptop taking up space in the closet; once I got the Windows 10 laptop I never fired up the Vista again.

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

@qbetzforreal wrote:
@apple1964 wrote:
Wow "Vista" software I remember having that with my first computer about 15 or 20 years ago. Now that is a blast from the past. And if memory serves me correctly I thought it was terrible. JMO
You couldn't have because Vista was launced in 2006. It took the place of Windows XP (which I loved). Perhaps you're thinking Windows 95 or 98. I do agree that Vista was not good.

I never worked on 95 or 98. I remember XP and I liked it better then the old Vista software. I am shaking my head because I do remember it being launched much earier then 2006 I remember it so well because one of my first computer[s] was a old Gateway and a Compac computer[s]. Wow, shaking my head now.

Runner26 · ‎09-30-2013

@blankette wrote:
Here I have a brand new HP pavillon waiting to be unboxed for two weeks while I clunk away on my Vista desktop. Well, it isnt being serviced, no updates guess that makes it a high risk sitch. Any suggest for scrubbing her down before the big farewell. I had this PC for a good 8-9 years will recycle it and not sure how to clean personal info off since it is getting more dysfunctional by the day. Any other Vista die hards out there?

There should be a setting to "factory restore" your computer, i.e., bring the computer back to when you first purchased it. That's all I did when I recycled my computer - I did a factory restore when my community had an electronic recycle event.

The factory restore option should be somewhere under control panel or just type "factory restore" in search bar.

Make sure you get everything off your computer (backup) before doing factory restore such as pictures, music, documents. If you use any software with licenses (MS Office), make sure you uninstall it first so you can reuse that license. If you were using iTunes (to set up ipod), make sure you deauthorize that computer. These were someof the stuff that I had to do that was important to me that may or may not apply to you. HTH!

proudlyfromNJ · ‎05-01-2010

@apple1964 wrote:
@qbetzforreal wrote:
@apple1964 wrote:
Wow "Vista" software I remember having that with my first computer about 15 or 20 years ago. Now that is a blast from the past. And if memory serves me correctly I thought it was terrible. JMO
You couldn't have because Vista was launced in 2006. It took the place of Windows XP (which I loved). Perhaps you're thinking Windows 95 or 98. I do agree that Vista was not good.
I never worked on 95 or 98. I remember XP and I liked it better then the old Vista software. I am shaking my head because I do remember it being launched much earier then 2006 I remember it so well because one of my first computer[s] was a old Gateway and a Compac computer[s]. Wow, shaking my head now.

qbetzforreal is correct about Vista. All you have to do is Google to see that she knows what she is talking about. smh.