HOW TO REFORMAT A PERSONAL COMPUTER

How to Format a Computer

Need to learn how to format your computer? Formatting a drive prepares the surface of the disk to store new data. Computers are often formatted before they are sold, donated, or returned to employers. Likewise, computers with viruses or errors can be formatted and returned to their "out of the box" settings.

How to Format a Computer with Windows 7

Warning - Formatting hard drive information does not permanently erase the data. Even after a computer has been formatted, deleted files can be easily recovered. If you want to permanently wipe your hard drive by completely overwritting hard drive data, check out WipeDrive.

To format your hard disk during Windows 7 installation, you'll need to start, or boot, your computer using the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive.

1. Turn on your computer so that Windows starts normally, insert the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive, and then shut down your computer.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Press any key when prompted, and then follow the instructions that appear.
4. On the "Install Windows" page, enter your language and other preferences, and then click Next.
5. If the "Install Windows" page doesn't appear, and you're not asked to press any key, you might need to change some system settings. To learn how to do this, see Start your computer from a Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive.
6. On the "Please read the license terms" page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms, and then click Next.
7. On the "Which type of installation do you want?" page, click Custom.
8. On the "Where do you want to install Windows?" page, click Drive options (advanced).
9. Click the partition that you want to format and click Format.
   1. If you have more than one partition on this hard drive and want to get rid them to make one big drive again, then select a partition and click on the Delete option for each partition. Once you have deleted all of the partitions, select the Unallocated Space partition and click Format.
   2. Pick the formatting option that you want.
   3. When you've finished formatting, click Next.
10. Follow the instructions to finish installing Windows 7, which include naming your computer and setting up an initial user account.
11. If you do not want to reinstall Windows 7, you can cancel the installation at this point and keep your newly formatted drives.

How to Format a Computer with Windows Vista

Warning - Formatting hard drive information does not permanently erase the data. Even after a computer has been formatted, deleted files can be easily recovered. If you want to permanently wipe your hard drive by completely overwritting hard drive data, check out WipeDrive.

To format your hard disk during Windows Vista installation, you'll need to start, or boot, your computer using the Windows Vista installation disc or USB flash drive.

1. Turn on your computer so that Windows starts normally, insert the Windows Vista installation disc, and then shut down your computer.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Press any key when prompted, and then follow the instructions that appear.
4. On the "Install Windows" page, follow any instructions that are displayed, and then click Install now.
5. If the "Install Windows" page doesn't appear, and you're not asked to press any key, you might need to change some system settings. To learn how to do this, see Start Windows from a CD or DVD.
6. On the "Get important updates for installation" page, we recommend getting the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation and to help protect your computer against security threats. You will need an Internet connection to get installation updates.
7. On the "Type your product key for activation" page, do one of the following:
   1. If you are reinstalling Windows Vista, you should enter your product key now.
   2. If you are not reinstalling Windows Vista, you can skip this step.
8. On the "Please read the license terms" page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms.
9. On the "Which type of installation do you want?" page, click Custom.
10. On the "Where do you want to install Windows?" page, click Drive options (advanced).
11. Click the partition that you want to format and click Format
    1. If you have more than one partition on this hard drive and want to get rid them to make one big drive again, then select a partition and click on the Delete option for each partition. Once you have deleted all of the partitions, select the Unallocated Space partition and click Format
    2. Pick the formatting option that you want.
    3. When you've finished formatting, click Next.
12. Follow the instructions to finish installing Windows Vista, which include naming your computer and setting up an initial user account.
13. If you do not want to reinstall Windows Vista, you can cancel the installation at this point and keep your newly formatted drives.

How to Format a Computer with Windows XP

Warning - Formatting hard drive information does not permanently erase the data. Even after a computer has been formatted, deleted files can be easily recovered. If you want to permanently wipe your hard drive by completely overwritting hard drive data, check out WipeDrive.

1. The first step in learning how to format a computer with Windows XP or 2000, is to insert Windows CD and restart your computer.
2. Your computer should automatically boot from the CD to the Windows Setup Menu.
3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
4. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
5. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
6. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition.
7. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
8. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition (Recommended: NTFS), and then press ENTER.
9. After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to continue installing Windows.

WipeDrive: Wipe All Data Before Formatting

Deleted files can be recovered even after a computer has been formatted!

A recent study of 129 old hard drives (many of them formatted) revealed more than 5,000 credit card numbers, medical correspondences, love letters, pornography, bank account information, and other confidential data. To protect yourself from identity theft, erase ALL data before formatting a hard drive.

Do you need to know:

• How to format a computer before selling or donating a system.
• How to format a computer to erase personal data before returning it to an employer.
• How to format a computer with an operating system damaged by viruses or spyware.
• How to format a computer in compliance with government regulations (including HIPAA).

Learn how to format a computer to US Department of Defense specifications. WipeDrive is one of only five DoD approved products that knows how to format a computer using the DoD 5220.22-M standard for disk sanitation. This standard involves far more than an ordinary drive format and includes multiple overwrites with random characters.

How to Format a Computer Securely With WipeDrive

WipeDrive is an easy-to-use disk sanitizing tool that boots from a CD or floppy disk.

Learning how to format a computer is as easy as inserting the WipeDrive disk and restarting your system.

WipeDrive will automatically load with prompts indicating how to format computer hard drive data to Department of Defense specifications.

Link:https://www.whitecanyon.com/articles/how-to-format-computer

HOW TO SHARE FILES AND PRINTER ON A COMPUTER NETWORK?

Just because you have more than one computer doesn't mean you have to have a printer for each computer. I will now show you how to share a printer between computers on a network.

Before sharing your printer, you have to set up File and printer sharing.

Here's how to set up File and printer sharing:

1. Click on Start in the bottom left corner of your screen. A popup list will appear.
2. Select Control Panel from the popup list. Type the word network in the search box.
3. Click on Network and S
   haring Center.
4. Click on Change advanced shared settings, in the left pane.
5. Click on the down arrow, which will expand the network profile.
6. Select File and printer sharing and choose Turn on file and printer sharing.
7. Click on Save changes.

You're now ready to share your printer.

1. Click on Start in the bottom left corner of your screen. A popup list will appear.
2. Click on Devices and Printers, from the popup list.
3. Right click the printer you want to share. A dropdown list will appear.
4. Select Printer properties from the dropdown list.
5. Click on the Sharing tab
6. Select the Share this printer check box.

In order for other people to connect to the printer, they just have to add the network printer that you just opened for sharing to their computers. Here's how to do this.

1. Click on Start in the bottom left corner of your screen. A popup list will appear.
2. Click on Devices and Printers from the popup list.
3. Select Add a printer.
4. Click on Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.
5. Click the shared printer.
6. Click Next. Continue according to the instructions on the screen 

Source: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/share-printer-home-network-windows

What is a Network or IP Address

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.^[1][2] An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) defines an IP address as a 32-bit number.^[2] However, because of the growth of the Internet and the depletion of available IPv4 addresses, a new version of IP (IPv6), using 128 bits for the IP address, was developed in 1995,^[3] and standardized in December 1998.^[4] In July 2017, a final definition of the protocol was published.^[5] IPv6 deploymenthas been ongoing since the mid-2000s.

IP addresses are usually written and displayed in human-readable notations, such as 172.16.254.1 in IPv4, and 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:8:1 in IPv6. The size of the routing prefix of the address is designated in CIDR notation by suffixing the address with the number of significant bits, e.g., 192.168.1.15/24, which is equivalent to the historically used subnet mask255.255.255.0.

The IP address space is managed globally by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and by five regional Internet registries (RIRs) responsible in their designated territories for assignment to end users and local Internet registries, such as Internet service providers. IPv4 addresses have been distributed by IANA to the RIRs in blocks of approximately 16.8 million addresses each. Each ISP or private network administrator assigns an IP address to each device connected to its network. Such assignments may be on a static (fixed or permanent) ordynamic basis, depending on its software and practices.

IP address classes

With an IPv4 IP address, there are five classes of available IP ranges: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E, while only A, B, and C are commonly used. Each class allows for a range of valid IP addresses, shown in the following table.

Class	Address range	Supports
Class A	1.0.0.1 to 126.255.255.254	Supports 16 million hosts on each of 127 networks.
Class B	128.1.0.1 to 191.255.255.254	Supports 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks.
Class C	192.0.1.1 to 223.255.254.254	Supports 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks.
Class D	224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255	Reserved for multicast groups.
Class E	240.0.0.0 to 254.255.255.254	Reserved for future use, or research and development purposes.

                                                                STEPS

WINDOWS

To find the IP Address on a PC:

On a College computer:

• In the System Tray (next to the clock), you should see a white triangle pointing upwards. Click it to reveal more icons. Find the one that looks like a computer with an "i" over it (BGInfo) and click it. Look for the IP: line.

On a personal computer, or if that does not work:

1. Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar.
   • If you are using Windows XP, click 'Run...'
2. Type 'cmd' in the text box that appears and then press Enter. A black "command prompt" window launches on the desktop.
3. In this command window, type ipconfig and hit Enter.
4. Look next to “IPv4 Address” for the IP Address. (There may be more than one, if so, note which heading they appear under.)

To find the MAC/Physical Address/Ethernet ID on a PC:

1. Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar.
2. Type 'cmd' in the text box that appears and then press Enter. A black "command prompt" window launches on the desktop.
3. In this command window, type ipconfig /all and press Enter.
4. Look for Physical Address.
   • The one listed under Ethernet adaptor Local Area Connection is for your wired connection.
   • The one listed under Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection is for your wireless connection.