What happens to a computer if you get it completely wiped? Does it make it brand new, even though its been used for X amount of years?

Answer 1

Depends on what you mean by wiped.

To me, a complete wipe would be a complete format of the hard drive. Nothing is left. No OS. No restore partition. And definitely none of your data or applications. If I wanted to be extra paranoid I'd also run one of those data wipers on it which forcibly overwrites every part of the drive with 0s - effectively making it impossible to retrieve old information from the disk.

Most computers come with a "Factory Reset" or "Factory Restore" option which puts the computer back in the state it was when you first unpacked it. The OS has been installed but not activated. Whatever default applications it came with will be there but nothing else. None of your data or anything you installed yourself. However in order to use this, you usually have to create a set of DVDs or something. (I don't know how modern computers do this since they no longer come with DVD drives ...)

Answer 2

A complete wipe just means the hard drive is BRAND new. Not in speed or used-ness, but wiping resets a hard drive bit by bit. Think of a normal format like washing a sweater. Get's it clean, but VERY small bits and pieces are still stick inside the weavings of the sweater. A complete wipe of a drive is like taking apart the sweater into on long-*** thread, cleaning the length of the thread carefully, then putting it back together into this "sweater" shape.

Answer 3

Computers don't slow down over time unless the hardware starts to break. There are tests out there comparing unopened old parts to parts that have been used for years and there is no speed difference.

If it's running slow, you've probably got a bunch of extra junk installed on it that's slowing things down.

Formatting and reinstalling the OS is one way to clean up all the junk. I used to do that regularly, but with Windows 7 and newer I think it's easier to just go manually clean things.

You can run something like Malwarebytes, it will clean a ton of junk out. Also using Microsoft's Disk Cleanup can help. The other place to start is look at the list of installed programs carefully and uninstall the ones you don't need. Just those 3 things usually go a long ways to cleaning a computer.

I'd also look at the process list in Task Manager and see if any of them are using more CPU or RAM than they should. Just sort the list by CPU usage and RAM usage and Google the highest ones and see if there is a way to fix them.

Answer 4

Isn't that a new computer that's X years out of date? And technically it is not new since PSU obviously has some tear and wear.

Answer 5

Nope. It is X amount of years old & out of date.

Answer 6

Depends how you do it.

Format the hard drive? EVERYTHING, even the OS, is gone. You'll have to manually install a new copy of your OS.

Use a reset feature within the OS? It will reset back to default everything and when it turns back on it will be like taking it out of the box for the first time.

If the computer has a problem with the hard drive, reinstalling the OS it won't do much to help. If it's a problem with the software (like a bad virus), formatting the drive will definitely fix it. Resetting through the OS will probably fix it unless the virus modified the OS itself.

Answer 7

of course not ... wear on things like bearings and wiring is cumulative. it does reset the hard drive to empty and ready for formatting with new driver install and operating system

Answer 8

Wiping a computer involves removing everything from the hard drive. Unless you install an operating system after the computer is wiped, all you have is a doorstop.

Answer 9

Yes. It’ll be restored to factory settings. Itl start up the same as an brand new one would.

Answer 10

no .. components degrade, especially electrolytic capacitors and mechanical drives and things can go out of spec .. but if its still operational loading windows and drivers fresh will probably make it alot faster and less hangs ect ..