How to totally wipe everything from a computer?

[mpup]

Hi, I am thinking of selling my laptop and I would like to know how to wipe or clear everything on my computer. I watched the Gadget Show on Channel Five and they said that doing a Recovery on the computer won't clear everything on a computer.

Is there anything that I need to install to clear/wipe a computer to its original manufactoring state?

Also, deleted items in the Recycling Bin doesn't really get deleted even if you think you have deleted it. So, same question really how to clean/wipe recycling bin files?

Can you please provide website links for downloads please? And any advice you can offer me?

My laptop is a Advent 7030.

[GX1_Man]

A good removal and recreation of partitions and formatting the drive would get rid of things for most people, but then you would have to reinstall the operating system to make it functional again. Do you have the right CD for this? There are also utilities that would write zeros to the drive which you MAY want to use, but probably are overkill.

Have you reinstalled Windows before? What version are you using? Do you have a floppy and a CDROM? These answers will provide with the technical ways to proceed.

[mpup]

A good removal and recreation of partitions and formatting the drive would get rid of things for most people, but then you would have to reinstall the operating system to make it functional again. Do you have the right CD for this? There are also utilities that would write zeros to the drive which you MAY want to use, but probably are overkill.

Have you reinstalled Windows before? What version are you using? Do you have a floppy and a CDROM? These answers will provide with the technical ways to proceed.

No, I haven't reinstalled Windows before and I've got Windows XP Home Edition. I have the specifications here:

Specification
CPU Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz (Northwood)
BIOS PhoenixBIOS. Press the F2 key to enter.
Memory 512MB PC2100 DDR SODIMM (2 memory slots. Max 2GB)
Hard Drive 40 GB Hitachi Travelstar
CD Drive HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4040N
Screen 15" TFT (Native Res.1024x768)
Video Card nVidia GeForce FX Go 5300
Sound Card Realtek AC'97 audio
Modem Intel 537EA
Network Card Realtek 8139 / 810X (Onboard)
Prism 3890 802.11g wireless ***
PC Card 2 x Type I/II, 1 x Type III
Ports 2x PC card slot
3 in 1 card reader **
1x IEEE1394 (firewire)
1x IR
1x Parallel
1x TV Out ****
1x External VGA
4 x USB 2.0
1x RJ-11 modem
1x RJ-45 LAN
1x Line-out
1x Line-in
1x S/PDIF
Battery Info Lithium Ion battery. Rated up to 2 hours 50 minutes of continuous use.*
Dimensions 325 x 288 x 44mm
Weight 3.6kg

I do have the recovery cd's but I heard it's not enough to wipe everything. I just want to make sure everything is cleared before I sell it, due to hearing from the news and stuff that some people can hack into anything these days even if deleted years old.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[GX1_Man]

Sometimes formatting or damaging the partitions can result in the restore CD's not being able to function ever again. (Part of the restore information is kept in hidden partitions on the hard drive.)

When you do a reinstall it usually automatically formats the drive anyway, so decide how secure you want to be. (That would be enough for me, because I am not a CIA operative.) If security is the overriding concern. do the full Department of Defense cleaning and hope for the best with a restore.

[ComputerCrazy]

whew, boy have i had expierence with this kinda crap     :-/

[mpup]

Sometimes formatting or damaging the partitions can result in the restore CD's not being able to function ever again. (Part of the restore information is kept in hidden partitions on the hard drive.)

When you do a reinstall it usually automatically formats the drive anyway, so decide how secure you want to be. (That would be enough for me, because I am not a CIA operative.) If security is the overriding concern. do the full Department of Defense cleaning and hope for the best with a restore.

ok, I will try formatting and use the recovery cd's provided with the laptop. Hopefully all should be cleared. I like to be safe than sorry. Thanks for your help

[GX1_Man]

Let us know how it goes.