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What's the best way to completely remove everything from a computer, without re-installing?

I have a friend who wants to sell their computer, but obviously all personal information and software that it is on it needs to be removed before doing so.

Usually I would format and reinstall it, but I cannot easily get hold of the required XP DVDs and I'm not 100% sure the serial number is stuck on the case as usual so getting hold of it will probably require more effort than I'm prepared to spend.

So, what's the best and quickest way to remove and uninstall everything from the PC without reinstalling it?

Thanks.

EDITS: I'm looking to remove things like Internet History and all installed programs, too. I know how to remove the history and each individual program, but that could take hours.

The machine is not branded and therefore there is no website I can go to download recovery software. There is no recovery partition on the computer and I'm not aware of any recovery DVDs for it either. I can only assume it was installed from a retail copy, and therefore there is no way to recover it to factory settings.

It needs to have XP installed, not any distribution of Linux. Like most average people, the person getting the computer will not understand what to do with a computer that doesn't have Windows installed, and software like Office does not work on Linux either.

Buying another licence is not really an option either. She has just brought a laptop to replace the computer, so buying another licence for a computer that she's getting rid of doesn't really make sense.

Thanks for all the help so far!

What steps do I need to take to completely uninstall MySQL?

I have installed and uninstalled MySQL Server for about 100 times. Each time I reinstall the thing, it shows the same configurations, which I think cause problems. I would like to get rid of all traces of MySQL and install it as if it was the first installation.

I'v already deleted the MySQL folder, but I'm still having the same problem.

How can I start over and reinstall MySQL?

EDIT: My OS is Windows 7.

Easy way to remove unused security descriptors?

I am planning on re-installing Windows soon. All files on my disk D:, which I am not planning on erasing, will have security descriptors from the current Windows installation with new security descriptors coming from the new Windows installation.

Is there a way to remove all security descriptors from all folders and files on a drive other than the ones created by current installation? Please let me know how to do it.

MySQL completely uninstalled and reinstall but database still exists on Ubuntu 12.04

I need to completely remove MySQL all databases and installation and reinstall, because root is broken. I followed this instructions:

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean

But when I install again with

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

old databases, old users table with broken users etc. are here, so no completely uninstall/repair

I'm stuck, help please, thank you very much!

Can I Reimage My Laptop With the Image of My Desktop?

I figured if I could reimage the new laptop, I wouldn't have to reinstall all the development software I install on a regular basis on every new system when I get a new contract gig and have to work on site--it takes me a day and a half to get through all of them, so I really need a better solution.

Note: I am using Windows 7 Ultimate on my desktop, and using Windows 7 Home on my laptop.

Reinstalling Windows from scratch or uninstalling everything

I frequently reinstall Windows from scratch because it has become to slow. I wonder if I were to uninstall every application, followed by a defrag and CCleaner job, would it be as fast as a fresh install. Does anyone know?

How to fix my mouse?

I just reinstalled Windows XP - while it was installing I didn't notice that the mouse wasn't plugged in. Once the instalation was complete my mouse doesn't work. The pointer shows up when Windows starts, but it doesn't do anything when I move my mouse.

What should I do to fix it? Get a mouse driver or something?

This is what my mouse properties look like:

Google Chrome is taking forever to set up sync

I did a clean install of Windows 7 yesterday, and am now trying to sync my bookmarks and other preferences back to Chrome which I had prior to reinstalling Windows.

Unfortunately it is taking forever to do the synchronisation and restore my data. I've checked to see if my Internet connection might be slow and causing this but that's not the case.

Any ideas why it is taking such a long time to synchronise? I searched Google on the issue but all I've found is questions by users having similar issues, but no working solutions. Also, I'm unable to open Chrome Webstore or Extension gallery as when I try to open, it says that "The app is currently unreachable." (The message which is usually displayed when any chrome webapp is tried to open when you're not connected to the network.)

Chrome is really messing up my work, any help will be appreciated, thanks...

Positive effects of a OS re-install

I have a slow computer, and I can uninstall unused applications, empty the cookies, scrub the registry, do a disk cleanup, and do a defrag, but it is still just kind of slow. If I do a Windows re-install, same OS, and reinstall all of the exact same programs, the computer is pretty fast again.

What exactly is the difference between the fresh and old OS installs?

What do I have to back up before I re-install?

It seems that almost every time I re-install windows on my PC I end up forgetting to back up something. Now I consider myself an experienced pc-user, and I've done this tons of times, but it never ceases to amaze me how often I forget to backup something (sometimes important, sometimes trivial). I take it that it's usually because from the time i decide to re-install to when i start is pretty short, which really isn't a good thing

What I'm looking for is to build a checklist of common backup-todos before making a full re-install so that this hopefully won't happen again.

Update: To clarify a little, I'm interested in a good BASE-checklist I can use as a start. Which cover as many important components as possible. ie: Browser settings, Email, passwords, Contacts etc..

There will always be user-specific customization (apps, skins, plugin settings etc) which cannot be covered by this type of checklist, and that's ok.

Windows activation with planned reinstall

My laptop's hard drive is dying. It still works (boots Windows 7, run some programs), but it is obviously damaged. I am buying a new one to replace it.

I have a legal and activated copy of Windows 7 32-bit Professional (RETAIL, not OEM).

What should I do before installing Windows 7 on the new hard drive? Should I unactivate (I don't know if this even exists) my Windows 7 copy so I can re-activate it in the new installation?

OEM Office 2010 without media - how to reinstall?

I have recently purchased a new office desktop PC from Dell with OEM version of Windows 7 Pro and Office 2010 Pro.

One of the reasons I always use Dell is that they always supply installation media CDs or DVDs, unlike some other companies that just give you ISO images on the hard disk that you have to burn yourself.

This is the first PC I have purchased with Office 2010 Pro (OEM), and I was disappointed to see that Dell don't ship out any installation media for office 2010, they just supply a piece of card with the office pro product key printed on it.

If the HDD fails completely and I have to perform a clean installation, how can I re-install office?

Can I download the trial version of Office 2010 and install that, then offer it my product key? Bearing in mind that the product key is an OEM product, not a retail product, would this work?

How do I completely remove and reinstall Samba on Debian?

My Samba installation has become a mess, and now the services won't even start correctly anymore, for some reason.

Is there a way to completely remove Samba, as if it was never there, and then reinstall it so I can have a fresh setup?

How to enable AHCI in Windows XP without reinstalling

This question is part of a larger list of things I'll need to do before installing a new SSD drive, but I think it deserves its own question.

Current setup: A dual-boot machine with Windows XP installed on a SATA 6Gbps HDD. BIOS has always been configured in IDE mode. Because of this, if I try to change to AHCI in BIOS, as Windows doesn't have AHCI drivers, it won't boot.

I already know that I can achieve this reinstalling the whole OS. But if possible, I'd like to enable AHCI without reinstalling again.

• Would it be possible to change the driver to the AHCI one while in Windows? (using the Device Manager, for instance). If it where possible, will the OS crash at the moment the driver is changed while still being BIOS in IDE mode?

• If not, is there a way to install it doing a partial repair using Windows disk? If such a method exists, will my current settings and applications remain unchanged?

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE
My South Bridge is an Intel(r) ICH10R. I already have the correct drivers which are located in my motherboard disc. Notice that the drivers are different for 32bit and 64bit OSes, so it is important to pick the correct ones. The files are called "iaStor.inf" and "iaAHCI.inf".

Is there a way to activate Windows 7 when it's saying my license code is already in use?

I purchased an Acer Notebook about 3 years ago. It had a bunch of bloatware, and in general it was starting to slow down. I decided to try to reinstall the OS. I went on the Internet and got a copy of Windows from a licensed source. I got my product key, wiped the hard drive and reinstalled Windows 7 from the USB bootable I created. All went well and I installed my drivers. Once connected to the internet, I check to make sure my CD key was working. And sure enough, it wasn't. It gave me an error code that, when I looked it up, said that that code was in use.

I called Microsoft and they could not help me. They directed me toward Acer support. They said I would have to buy a repair disk from them ($19.95 USD) and pay them for tech support ($99.95 USD). This is ridiculous.

Anyway, my question is, can I use the computer like normal with it not activated? and what else should I be doing to get myself out of this mess?

I know I was stupid for doing this without doing more research.

UPDATE: I realized the code I extracted was the master code for Acer. It is very different from the one on the bottom of the notebook. However, everything on the sticker is washed away and I can only see about 50% of the numbers.