The Windows Death command – Kill a Windows PC

Sometimes in the IT world you just need to let off some steam – sometimes a pile of old PC’s through in the PC ‘Graveyard’ are a fun way to do so.


Kill a Widows PC

Often we will play with various ways to kill off old PC’s before they are then securely wiped and recycled, and this command we are about to go into is one of the basics.

del /S /F /Q /A:S C:\windows

Thats it.

Yes it really is that easy to kill a windows PC!

Lets go through it and some of the pitfalls you may find.

del – This is the windows command to delete an object, pretty self explanatory
/S – Deletes specified files from the current directory and all subdirectories. Displays the names of the files as they are being deleted.
/F – Forces deletion of read-only files.
/Q – Specifies quiet mode. You are not prompted for delete confirmation.
/A:S – Deletes files based on the following file attributes, in this case: s = System files
C:\windows – The destination we are deleting.

Why does this work? – Well most people reading this know already, but if you didn’t – the Windows folder simply put is the heart of the Windows operating system. Killing it will stop the OS from booting.

Most users readers will be asking “Why put the C:\Windows” at the end of the script, should it no logically be put in front of the other switches? Well this is to do with personal preference really, and to do with the fact that it is convinient to then go about and delete more contect using the same script, by hitting up arrow, then simply backspacing and changing your destination. Lazy much? You bet you!

Bonus post of to Kill a Windows PC and to make this more effective coming next week – little hint:
takeown /f C:\Windows /r /d y

p.s. This is for information only – be responsible!

Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015

After a batch of updates over the weekend, Windows is now providing more info on the long awaited FREE windows 10 upgrade
Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015

Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015

The popups, now appearing on some windows 7 and 8 PC’s are causing quite a stir. With some people on reddit calling it both ‘intrusive’ and ‘malware-like’ 
It would appear that it is KB3035583 that installs this notification, but that requires Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 to function correctly, at the bottom of the article we have included a step by step guide in forcing this update in order to be able to reserve your own copy of Windows 10

Below, the sirst 5 screens, then taking you through to the final offer, of ‘reserving Windows 10’

win101 win103win102  Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015 Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015 Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015 Windows 10 release set for July 29th 2015

If you are still looking to get a hold of the update supplying this notification then Reddit user FearGX_ explains that you can force the update to do its thing. We’ve reformatted his instructions below.

  1. Open the Control Panel, choose Administrative Tools, and then fire up the Task Scheduler.
  2. Expand Task Scheduler Library, then Microsoft, then Windows, and finally scroll down to expand Setup.
  3. Click the folder GWXTriggers and on the far right hit Run.

Again, this will only work if you’re running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1, have KB3035583 installed, and have all the latest updates.