At the start of this year, I bought a new laptop that was subsequently damaged by cleaning spray that seeped behind the bezel.
Since I now have another laptop, I'm planning to sell this one off with warnings/ or as parts but I am concerned about my personal data and was hoping you could help me out with a few questions.
Since I already registered this computer with Microsoft, will the next owner still be registered as me or will the record be overwritten while they're setting it up?
Parts, or whole? The laptop is still fully functional and the damage is barely visible when viewed head on, the damage only appears dramatically when from the side or the top, from the bottom it disappears.
Best site for auctions? Everyone says ebay, but is it really that good?
So the damage is only cosmetic, but you replaced it anyway?
Anyway, you'll definitely want to wipe the drive as thoroughly as possible. Really, it's not something that you can do too much of. If you still have the discs that came with the system, I'd just restore the system to the exact same form it was in when you got it (after wiping it as mentioned above). Can't help you with how MS's nonsense works, though.
Definitely format and reinstall using your windows disk just remember to back up all your all your drivers because they can be a pain to find for certain laptops. Do this before you format and put them safely away. Often they will be on a backup partition on your harddrive but if you have never formated and reinstalled before stick them on disk. Try drivers guide toolkit.
If you need instructions on how to format your laptop just shout.
DO NOT USE SYSTEM RESTORE ALL DATA WILL STILL BE THERE!!!!!