how easy is it to wipe a laptop and reinstall everything?

[whitenoise]

I have the discs (windows xp) and they have never been opened.

Everything that needs to be saved has been saved.

i don't have the discs, what i thought was XP is actually works

oh well!

I don't know if you sorted this, but some come with a recovery CD that will put every back as it was when new (you have to copy your own stuff off first or you lose it)

Some have a hidden place on the hard drive which contains all the files to return it to factory settings. Those you generally get to by pressing a Function key while it's starting up. It might be on F8 which usually shows a menu for things like Safe Mode anyway. If you spot something likely then post and ask.

Some have neither, but you call the seller (places like DELL etc) and ask nicely and they send you a CD.

You could buy another copy of XP, but the catch is you also need drivers for the laptop motherboard and other hardware. If you don't have those even a new copy of XP would be no use.

Sony's are a pain in the arse... you can contact Sony support and buy a recovery CD... they will charge you around £20 for this... stick it in the drive and it will recover fully in about an hour

i don't have a sony its an e machines. Have managed to get it more workable by deleting pretty much every programme off it (no games, no word, no Microsoft office, no dvd player thingy....)

Thank you though. Its the factory settings i was having probs with...the bastards at PC World filled it with CRAP when we bought it and AOL just will NOT die!!

I had this with my first PC. Since then we make our own and install windows and just what programs we want.

E-machines appears to let you download drivers so you might want to check against your model and download all the drivers while they are available.

Then if you feel brave sometime and have a copy of XP handy (some copies are cheaper than others) you have the option to install from scratch.

In the meantime if you are trying to stop AOL explorer opening up for website/links then go to Control Panel - Internet Options. On the programs tab (click along the top) tick the box that says "internet explorer should check it is the default browser". Then go and start internet explorer and it will say "do you want me to be the default from now on" to which you can say yes.

Also (or if that fails) try looking for AOL in 'Add/Remove programs' but if not there then look in C:\Program Files\AOL\Explorer\1.2 (or similar) for a file called 'uninst' Double clicking that should uninstall it.