OldBoy

Let’s say I get a windows 10 usb from Amazon. I’ll put it in mom’s old pc and it will wipe out everything on it, including files, pics, music, all programs, etc? As if it were brand new? And even though mom pc is majorly corrupt and won’t even download those erase programs above?

Then if I want to mirror my pc to mom’s old one using a program listed above, can I do that even though my pc is windows 7? Thanks.

TheBang

For most brand-name computers sold in the past decade or more, there is usually a recovery partition installed on the hard drive at the factory. This allows you to wipe the hard drive and reinstall it to the factory-new state.

Find the manual or support site for the model of computer you have and follow the directions to boot into or use the Recovery partition.

Once you’ve restored it to a factory-new state, you can migrate your data from your old computer. It sounds like you need something that is easy and foolproof. I still recommend the PCMover Express I linked earlier in the thread. It is an affordable $15 for a hassle-free migration. It’ll bring over your account, settings, documents, files, etc. It will work for moving from Windows 7 on your old computer to Windows 10 on your new computer.

Kdogg

You don’t need to buy anything. Windows can reset itself. Open the Start menu, type “reset” and it will take you to the right Settings page. You can either completely reset or reset with saving personal files.

Or get an old USB drive and download and run Microsoft Windows Media Creation tool. It will wipe and reinstall Windows. It’s better than using a restoration partition because it’s relatively updated version of Windows vs a years old copy that will require tons of updates.