Deleting/erasing all my files from my desktop computer

[muffinmary]

I am moving from a desktop to a laptop; I have backed up and transferred all
files, Outlook and IE favourites. I now want to sell my desktop/hard
drive/monitor but before doing so, I need to remove all traces of my files
from the hard drive. I know that deleting files and emptying the trash does
not erase the files and files could be reconstituted. Can someone let me know
what the process is for doing this.

Once I have thoroughly cleansed the hard drive, do I need to also remove
Windows as it's licenced to me?

Many thanks.

 

[Bubba]

There are defined degrees of formatting, the best is always done with third
party software. The easiest is reloading Windows, do not register, and choose
to format the partition in NTFS during setup. The new owner has to register
or reinstall. Also during setup is a chance to delete the partition. That is
pretty thorough, as it wipes the entire drive.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User

There are defined degrees of formatting, the best is always done with
third
party software. The easiest is reloading Windows, do not register, and
choose
to format the partition in NTFS during setup. The new owner has to
register
or reinstall. Also during setup is a chance to delete the partition. That
is
pretty thorough, as it wipes the entire drive.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Mary

Try one of these programs (not the UNix versions).. repartitioning and
reformatting still allows files to be found from existing installations.. to
be sure, one has to run these programs a few times before data is truly
unrecoverable..

http://www.freeprogrammingresources.com/erasers.html

If you are desperately worried about the problem, buy a USB enclosure for
your present HDD, install the HDD and use it for back on your laptop, and
put a new one in the computer that is to be sold..

 

[muffinmary]

Tx, B; good start. mm
--
muffinmnary

There are defined degrees of formatting, the best is always done with third
party software. The easiest is reloading Windows, do not register, and choose
to format the partition in NTFS during setup. The new owner has to register
or reinstall. Also during setup is a chance to delete the partition. That is
pretty thorough, as it wipes the entire drive.

 

[muffinmary]

Excellent; will toil this p.m. on this project and post more questions as
they arise. Many thanks for sharing info. mm