Windows 7 factory reset and operating system questions, please help

Michael_300

Commendable
May 22, 2016
2
0
1,510
Hi everyone!  I recently put a different hard-drive in my laptop and it is infested with viruses and incredibly slow, so I am wanting to do a factory reset and reinstall the operating system. Here are some questions I have.

1. What is the best way to do a factory reset?  I just want to erase everything on the hard drive.  I am running windows 7, it appears the laptop does not have a "recovery  partition".

2. Can I download windows 7 or windows online and put it on a USB drive?  I do have a windows 7 home Prem product key sticker on the back of my laptop, if that key was used on a different hard drive for windows 7 can I use it again for a fresh installation on a different hard drive? How do I install windows 7 on a factory reset laptop? Is it difficult?

3. Is it possible download windows 7 or 10 on to my tablets SD card and load it via USB to my laptop?

Thanks so much for any help, it's terrible not having a working computer and I can't afford to get it fixed, so any help would be tremendously appreciated.
 
can download same version of windows off the net that that key works for. recovery partition would be on the previous hard drive not this hard drive.