Are you thinking about retiring or just got an old company laptop that is not used at the office anymore? And you are not getting a way to convert it to a personal laptop. Factory resetting your laptop can do the job, but there are still some locking factors, so complete your research before converting it. However, we have found several ways in which you can successfully convert your laptop for your personal use. A computer’s Operating system provides easy ways to reset your computer. You can reset your laptop or delete unwanted data. This article will teach you How To Convert Work Laptop To Personal.
How to Convert Work Laptop to Personal
Simply resetting the laptop is an easy solution, but it may cause the administrator to get locked, and then you will need to find the company to unlock it, which will be a hassle. When you resign from a company, many don’t ask to return the laptop. Whatever the reason, if the laptop is not needed for office work, you can use it for personal use, or your children can use it for online learning.
Here are a few ways:
Reinstalling Windows
By formatting the C drive on your Laptop, you can delete all the previous data and Reinstall Windows. Rebooting your Laptop will completely wipe the data of the old company laptop and its domain network. Here are a few steps on How to Reinstall Windows:
To install Windows a CD or a USB stick is necessary. The bootable drive must contain the software, that will help you reinstall windows and erase the data from the hard drive. After connecting it to your Laptop, it will run automatically, and if it doesn’t locate the drive on my computer, click autorun. Then accept the default operating system, which is asked for by the software.
Another way is to reinstall Windows during startup. For this,
- Insert the bootable drive in the laptop before powering it up.
- When the screen lights up, keep pressing the F2/F12 key on your keyboard (F2 or F12 depends upon your motherboard).
- Select the bootable drive.
- Format your hard drives and install the new drives.
- Follow the navigations step by step and let the system install.
- After the installation is complete, a new disc will appear. Then restart your computer.
- After restarting, your laptop will be ready to use.
Note: Re-installation will erase all the data on your laptop. You can back up the data on external drives if needed.
If you follow all the steps correctly, you will successfully format your laptop.
Also Read: Can A Laptop Be Tracked After Factory Reset? Solved!
Disable Windows Defender
Computers come with pre-installed antivirus software such as Microsoft Security Essentials, which won’t be able to protect your data properly. While working at an office, many antivirus programs are required to ensure the safety of your data. Antivirus software ensures malicious software doesn’t get onto your system and protects it from ransomware, spyware, and hackers. However, these security protections are unnecessary when using your work laptop after leaving the company. These tools use a lot of processor power and memory and drop down a computer’s performance.
The best thing to do is remove the extra antivirus software and enable Windows Defender. Enabling Windows Defender will protect your system from malicious software or site. It also protects from ransomware, malware, and spyware attacks.
Creating a Separate User Account
Another Productive way to convert your work laptop for personal use is by creating separate users on your laptop. You can use this account when you want to carry out a personal task where privacy and security are vital. You can switch accounts between official and personal whenever it’s necessary to keep all your data private and inaccessible to your employers or co-workers.
Here are the Steps on How to Create a New User:
Windows:
- Go to Settings – Accounts – Family & other users.
- Select Add someone else to this PC.
- Now provide your Microsoft account information. You skip this and continue without adding an account.
- Create a username and enter a password.
- Follow the same process for the security questions.
- When done, an icon should appear in the Settings window.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to wipe a computer before recycling?
Before recycling, it’s important to erase all your previous data so no one can use it for any wrong activities. Select the Windows start menu and search for Windows reset. Then select the reset option, then your computer will go to its factory settings. This process will wipe all the data stored on your computer. Make sure to have a backup.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has provided you with enough information to convert your work laptop to a personal laptop. When you get an office laptop, it is better to use it at home by simply resetting or reinstalling Windows. We believe converting a laptop to personal use is not an issue. Follow the steps above. It will help you use it at home and save your system. Moreover, utilizing work laptops for personal is risky because there are more chances of getting attacked by hackers. The main concern is that the company’s information can get leaked. The best way to avoid issues is to format and erase all company data.