Restoring PC To Factory Settings

[Spence97]

Im getting a new Mac tomorrow and my sister is getting my old PC, and i wanna know how to restore my Acer laptop to its original settings so none of my old stuff is there for her. Can anyone help me out?

[Rayquaza]

You'll have to check if your computer comes with a System Recovery partition, and restore to that. Otherwise, do a complete format and install through the Windows Installation Disc.

[PerpetualImperfexion]

Restart Computer>Tap F8 repeatedly>From black screen choose something along the lines of "Repair my computer">Wait for that to load up>Enter credentials>There will be a number of options, I suggest the one at the very bottom the reads "Restore to factory defaults".

This works with my Acer Aspire laptop. I am 85% sure it works with towers as well. I may have missed a step or two, but if you're not mentally deficient in terms of computers, you should be fine. Good luck and enjoy your new computer.

EDIT: Missed the fact that you said it was a laptop so ignore the tower part.

[workingatperfect]

If you go to the start menu and search "restore to" it should come up with the "Restore your computer to an earlier time" thing. It should be pretty self explanatory from there.

[TheMatrix]

Or you can create a new account, and delete your old one. Usually that deletes the files associated with it, and otherwise you can delete them yourself, by going to the Users or Documents and Settings "folder" and deleting from there.

[HunterSteele]

If you go to the start menu and search "restore to" it should come up with the "Restore your computer to an earlier time" thing. It should be pretty self explanatory from there.
That's more for fixing technical problems with your computer, it won't affect any files. Mirage seems to also get confused about this.