When you buy a secondhand laptop or desktop computer it
is really annoying when you see the previous owners name on your computer.
Because of the Windows registration details, their name pops up in places
where it shouldn't be. You might be trying to fill a form out, signing into
a popular sight like Ebay, or registering a program online.
Even
though this information should have been removed by the previous owner
for security reasons, it is now up to you to fix this problem. I
recommend you read this article and then watch the video tutorial.
Here are some ways to remove the previous owner from
your laptop or desktop computer.
Change the registration details in your registry
Change your computer name
Delete previous owners user names
Delete cookies that remember passwords and names
automatically
Delete the previous owner
registration details from your registry
When buying or selling a secondhand laptop or desktop
computer it is very important that this registration information is
changed. If you do not then certain programs you install will use these
details to register their program also.
Go to the Start Menu
and choose Run from the menu
Type regedit in
the box and press OK
Press on the
+ sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Scroll down to find
SOFTWAREPress on the +
sign
Scroll down to find Microsoft
Press on the + sign
Scroll down to find WindowsNT
Press on the + sign
Click onCurrentVersion and make it blue
In the right side
you will see details
Double click on Registered Owner or Organization. Change the details.
Exit Registry and Reboot
computer.
Delete
the previous owner registration details from
your computer name
Press the Windows key and the Pause Break button at the same time. How easy is that?
Applies to Windows Xp and Vista.
Or go to Start menu>control panel>system(For Vista you can get more details by
clicking on the items in the left bar menu.)
Or go to the Start Menu and right-click on
My Computer and select Properties(For Vista its not my Computer but just computer)
Choose computer name from the tab
And there it is in small writing...If it is a difficult or overly
long name click on change. Change your computer name to something
easy. Mine is called 'mitz' See
video below.
Delete the previous owner
user names
Get rid of any user names that the previous own had on
your computer.
Simply open the start menu and double
click on the picture in the top left corner.
Click on Home from the top menu.
Choose change user name.
If the username is an administrator, change the
name.
If the username is just a user account you can
delete it.
Delete
the previous owner details from your computer by clearing cookies
When you are filling out a form and Windows or an
installed toolbar tries to help fill it in, and someone else's information
comes up it is very frustrating. This information is stored in cookies which
can be deleted.
How to view your cookies and delete them?
This applies to Internet Explorer 4,5,6 and 7
When you have Internet Explorer open go to the
tools menu at the top.
Choose Internet Options.
Go to the General Tab.
Under the heading, browsing history,
press the Settings button.
Then press View files button.
Select all cookies, right click and
select delete from the drop down menu.
Watch this video tutorial on removing the previous
registration details
Notes:
The best way to start a fresh is to
format your computer. This will automatically clean every
trace of the previous owners details.
There may be other programs on your computer
that will be registered with the previous owner. You can change them in the
registry by looking in the software section. You can only do
this if you have the original cd and the software was part of the sale.
You could possibly have to edit the bios
if the previous owners name has been entered in there. Even if you format
your computer the bios will not change.
Mitz Pantic wrote this article and others for
tips4pc.com
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