upgrading vista premium/removing for clean install?

well i would like to remove EVERYTHING, on my computer including the os and then installing a new 64bit operating system, is that possible to remove everyting? or can i just upgrade my 32 bit operating system and it would erase everything and give me a new clean install of w.e i upgrade to? if not how do i erase all things i have done on my compaq cq50 laptop to when i first booted up? (it says press f1 when booting your laptop up and that would recover it, what doesthat do?)

 

You have to remove everything to upgrade to 64 bit. Just use the DVD and it will guide you through it including reformating the drive removing everything.

 

Since you have 3GB of RAM, upgrading to 64-bit would only have benefit if you had an app that would run better in a 64 bit environment. The primary benefit of a 64-bit OS is that it can use more than 3.5GB of RAM. If you press F1 to get to system recovery, that will basically wipe out all your data and bring it back to factory fresh settings. All of your stuff will be gone, and Windows will be like it was the day you got the computer, so if you do that make sure to have all of your personal data files backed up on another hard disk or to CD/DVD. It will destroy all of your data on the hard disk. Make sure to have all of your files that you want to keep backed up first. I can't stress that enough.

 

im not quite sure what you want, do you want to erase everything so you have a blank hardrive (and then put in your 64 bit os like I did)

if you want to wipe your drive, try something called "dban", although I think windows vista 64bit clears the HD for you

or are you trying to restore your computer to the point when you first got it from compaq (that would mean the 32 bit os it came with)

if this, just use the cd that your system came with

if you are trying to do something else and I misunderstood you feel free to clarify =)

 

i am trying to restore to factory settings (32bit) i want everything the way it was when i first turned on the laptop. my computer didnt come with a restore disk, i need to make one, which i have no idea how to do, because i tried before, and i saved it on a disk, then inserted disk number 2 and a error came up, so im guessing it saved on one disk? so should i press f1 to restore to factory settings, and if so, would it be easy because i dont want to screw up anything on my laptop.

 

If you are doing a factory restore, then you aren't removing everything.

 

If you are trying to clean the computer of your personal data, for resale or other purposes, use a utility like the above poster mentioned called dban to wipe traces of your data. You would need working restore discs to get the computer back into a working state. If you didn't get them with your computer, dban will make the computer inoperable.

 

mk well ill wait till i buy a new disk.

 

Sometimes there is a full recovery partition (usually bigger than ~400MB), and sometimes there is just a small partition with some applications that load the rest of the restore image that require discs (when you press F1). It sounds like yours might be the latter, so it'd be best to get those restore discs from Compaq. They shouldn't be very expensive.

 

k, well i only have 160 lol ill look for the dics from compaq on thier website?

 

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07143

You may have to call them if it's not available from their website.

 

nvm found out finally, 15$ for a os cd or just a recovery cd? and the recovery cd restores to manufacture settings

 

I'm not sure usually both are required. Get both, I'd say. Unless you can somehow confirm only one is needed.