I'm selling my OH's laptop, but I cannot find out how to return it to factory settings. it's an HP Compaq mc6400 running Windows 7 Professional.
I've looked on You tube and followed several of the videos but after holding down F11 and pressing power on the laptop still starts windows, rather than going into recovery. Where am I going wrong? Any help much appreciated.
You might be able to get where you need to be via
Start > All Programs > HP Backup and Recovery > HP Backup and Recovery Manager
but I wouldn't bother.
All that you need to do is to shred (rather than just delete) any personal data on the laptop, so that it can't be recovered. This freebie can do the job for you:
http://www.fileshredder.org/
(PS: If you still want to try the F11 route, don't hold the key down. Instead repeatedly jab at it during the boot process).