Hi so somewere on the interwebs i saw that when you are installing windows to an old hardrive it gives you the option to delet files will this erase evrything on the harddrive or will it only erase some files because i forgot the password to the computer i dismemberd and i think some passwords are held hear so i do whant windows to erase evrything. Also Whats OEM is this still windows in a disc or download please help all of us with this problem thanks. i am NOOB
ok,
when you install the new copy of windows on the HDD, tell it to erase everything. Then afterwards, just to make sure, format the drive in windows. In this case OEM just means that you dont get any "plush packaging" or customer support.
hope this helps,
tom
Windows 7 and down, you will have to erase everything. With Windows 8 there is an option to upgrade without erasing anything. I think you can do this with all computers, but you have to have a Windows 8 copy...