Windows 10: Restoring from One Drive after hacking/totally wiped Dell laptop

Recently I was hacked and they got in through my internet and changed the password on my 18 m.o. Dell. My local guy couldn't get into it and the whole thing was wiped, along with my life collection of files. I'd paid for extra storage before this happened, so hopefully my stuff might be somewhere. The hackers have taken the email address connected to it, and I'm assuming cloned it, so I can input it, but it won't come back to me. So, I also have a new Microsoft account as the email and password for the old one are gone.I've lost so much more than this, as the hack was very wide ranging. some a

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Wiping the hard drive after a hack

How long does it take to wipe a hard drive using windows 10 recovery? We were hacked and were told to use the recovery tool in Windows 10. The steps were easily followed but it's taking forever....and I mean forever. 21 hours and counting. It's still spinning.
The progress page is gone. What the heck? do we just keep waiting?

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

Wiping the hard drive after a hack

I fried a W10 today. My fault, not W10. I was at 14946.

The Recovery took about the same time as to install a new Insider build.

I came back as 14942 without my apps but with my files. Recovery should be a piece of cake. Have used 2 or 3 times. You may have to use another method.

Mel

 

Help starting over with Dell Laptop

Hi, I own reasonably old Dell laptop running Windows XP

What I'm looking to do is totally wiping the laptop and reinstalling a newer version of Windows.

So what I'm wondering is:

Can I put a newer version on for free?

What's the best way of totally wiping my laptop and starting a fresh? I still own all the discs that Dell provided me with.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.