computer froze

[billllib]

bought the refurbished HP 8100 Elite from amazon. worked great for 3 weeks then a message screen started coming on , instead of the normal start screen. I'm a 70 year old novice, so i found by hitting F10 i could get the start screen to come up. but when i shut it down and restarted the next day, i had to do it all over again. after 3 days of this and pushing some other F keys it finally quit and when turned on the message screen was froze. i contacted amazon, who refered me to SJ Computers, that had refirbished it. they were almost no help, but would allow a refund. I have since bought a new computer that is fine. my problem is since i'm a novice , i dont feel safe returning it since i used it for my banking and some personal info. how likely is someone else going to be able to recover my info. if it is unwise to send it back as is, any tips on how to get it running and erase my stuff?    thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

@billllib, welcome to the forum.

As an old_geekster myself, I will be glad to help you.

Your best option is to remove the hard drive from the computer and connect it to another computer to format it to remove your personal information.  This will be far easier than trying to get the computer to run.  If you are not comfortable working on a computer, I suggest asking one of your friends who is competent to help you.  If nothing else, there are students at local schools who could help you and would be glad to do it.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.