How do i completely erase everything from my laptop? (I am selling it!)?
542797
Go to My computer and choose  D: For an example and then right click on it and choose Format \nclick on the fast format and leave the other boxes empty then Hit Start\nIt will warning you for deletion order and you have to confirm it so choose Yes  \nFormat is starting then A message will appear that says Format Complete. One gone    \nThen do the same thing to the other Drives\n\nIf you want to Format the C: Drive \nBring a start up disk and restart the computer  right after the computer restarts by it self i mean after the screen turns off hit delete in some computers or hit the F2 to run the Bios ,\nnow go to (Boot Devices), then choose the floppy disk to be the first drive running (your Floppy disk must be inside the drive) now hit on the (Save and Restart)\nNow wait untill the computer reads the floppy and then wait just few seconds,\nWhen the screen appears like this\nA:/\nType   (Format c:/\nIf it says the command is wrong or someting like that type\nFormat c:&#92;\nThen confirm The order by hiting (Y) and Enter\nnow your computer is being formatting wait for it and in couple minutes your computer will be tottaly formatted and there is no windows on it..\nIf you dont Have a floppy drive !! Take it to some Professional maintinence center to format it for you cuz it's a longway to be formatted by CD.\nThank you very much and i hope you sell your computer very quickly\n\nBrian S
179940
If you want to whip it out clean(your entire hard drive), then reboot your system with the windows boot disk and type "format c:" this will whipe out all data from the drive.\n\nif you need to preserve your data then you may have to do it manualy with the with the deltree command from the dos prompt. You will also have to reboot using the win98 boot disk because you will get an error saying someting like "Can't  remove directory, X file,already in use by windows"\n\nalso please make sure you copy deltree.exe onto you bootup\nfloppy. I beleive that the windows boot disk does not set the path to the windows directory, so doing a deltree from the prompt will not work with out the deltree.exe program on your floppy.\n\nThe command from your A:prompt should look like this\n\nA:>deltree c:&#92;windows\n\ndeltree c:&#92;windows, is the actual syntax to type at the prompt.\n\nyou can then from there use anny method you choose to delete any windows swap files.\n\nNotes:\n\nuse the dir command to see any hidden files left over by windows\n\nFirst use dir/? to get the correct syntax. dir will let you see the hidden files and the attrib command will let you change the attributes of a file from hidden to archive so that yo may delete any hidden windows files on your hard drive.(attrib/? for syntax)\n\nif you need more info,E-mail me, Thanks for the question!\n\nThe first answer is wrong. Do not do a low level format. A low level format is done at the manufacture NOT the user.
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WipeDrive\nCompletely eliminate\nhard drive data\nhttp://www.whitecanyon.com/wipe-your-hard-drive-help.php\nDESTROYING COMPUTER DATA\nhttp://www.howtowipeyourdrive.com/
760752
try Eraser : http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/\n\nSimply formatting your drive won't completely delete your files. Any UNDELETE programs out there can restore your files. \n\nWhat is Eraser? \n \nEraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.
1034205
yess.. i know exactly how. and its super easy. and free. download this program:\n\nhttp://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/download.html\n\nafter you install it, do the highest level of cleanup. it says that its what you use when you want to erase all your personal files and temp files before handing over your computer to someone else.\n\ni use it all the time just to delete all my old files to make my computer run faster. it really works, and its easy to use. so just download it, and run. honestly, you dont need to reformat your computer. if you use this program, it gets rid of everything.\n\nif you dont know what youre doing, reformating your computer is super hard, and you might really mess up your computer. plus it takes like an hour to reformat. to do so, you must have your windows disk, and do a bunch of things in dos to erase your current version of windows. if youve never done it, i dont reccomend it. taking it to a computer shop costs like 60$. the link i included should do the work.\n\ngood luck :)
536818
check out this site www.webroot.com it will take all your computer history tracks off your system.
820478
You really seem to have a need to get rid of the data on that hard drive. Hmmmmm.................
84863
Buy a program that "bleaches" the hard drive space.  Simply formatting the drive still leaves data retrievable, it's just not seen by Windows.
487108
http://www.ccleaner.com/ \nClean everything from that program\n\nReinstalling XP safely:\nhttp://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
861023
I don't know where the folders came from, but you could try formating the memory stick. This should erase all data on it. what you do is plug it in, then find it under my computer; they're normally named "removable disk *some  letter*". Right click on it, and go down to "format" it'll ask you some stuff; if you really want to erase everything, click yes. this should clean it off.
915231
You'll need to boot to something other than that hard drive - such as a windows CD, a Win98 boot floopy (google it) or a Linux CD.  You can then format the hard drive, which will erase the entire contents of it.\n\nYou can also put the hard drive in another computer and format it that way.
1076513
get rid of the computer!!!
1153746
Shred all the files with McAfee shredder, or zero-out the hard drive (zero-out is on Disk Utility on macs, and norton might have it, i don't know)
97723
Just right click and delete.\nEmpty trash bin to completely get rid of it.
190738
I am more interested in giving serious useful info. See my other answers also please\n\nyes, you may either go to windows explorer and go to the particular folder and delete the files.\n\nYou can go to Internet explorer Tool--> InternetOptions--> DeleteFiles option Button. (you may also clear history, and cookies)\n\nOr\nYour windows-StartButton--->  Programs---> Accessories --> System Tools  --->DiskCleanUp\n\nAll my answers should be verified for accuracy, the answers are only my suggestions.
1170397
just delete stuff manually, press SHIFT and DEL
17399
Check with Compaq for specific instructions.  But, you can usually do a repair install (of Windows 2000 or XP), and it won't delete all your applications and user settings.