what must to be done to an older computer before you sell it?

[mini1]

Hello everyone! I would like to what I should erase or "wipe clean" off of my Gateway 2000 Laptop (Windows 98 SE Pro, with office Pro) before I sell it? I have never sold an older computer before, so I don't know what needs to be done, so the next owner can't look back at my deleted files? (There was never anything "top secret" on it) How do I go about cleaning off the hard drive, short of replacing it? This computer isn't worth much so I can't really spend money on it, such as a software program that wipes the hard drive. Thanks for your help in advance! :)

[Shappyss]

Many computers come with a disk that will delete everything off the computer and return it to factory settings. If yours didn't come with that you could get a WindowsXP CD or an old Windows CD (98, 2000, or ME) format the harddrive and then reinstall windows.

[mini1]

"Many computers come with a disk that will delete everything off the computer and return it to factory settings."
Is the name of that CD, "Application Restoration CD", "Operating System Backup CD" or "Portables Restoration CD"? There isn't really a description of what the CD's do anywhere?

[JohnGfun]

On My Computer I Didn't Get A Disk? When My Computer Starts Up the Start Up Screen Says "Press F10 For System Recovery". I Have Windows XP. Good Luck!

[Shappyss]

I think you would first use operating system backup disk and after it is finished use the aplication restore,. I have no clue what the portables restore disk is

[Steve Mehs]

John, you should have a program somewhere on your computer called HP Recovery CD-DVD Creator, this will allow you to create your own recovery disc since for whatever reason HP doesn't include them. You have the option to span it across multiple CDs (7 discs for my system) or 1 DVD. I got a Compaq in December ’99 and they included the recovery discs, got another Compaq last year under the new HP regime and I had to create my own recovery DVD with the Compaq Recovery CD-DVD Creator.

[Ric]

Mini - I assume you are a Gold Member. Check out the Gold Forum in the download area. There is an ultimate Boot CD file that you can burn to a CD and I believe it has several Hard Drive writing/erasing free programs.

[Unthinkable]

Try Eraser. Its free and has received good press on The Screen Savers in the past.

http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

[mini1]

Thanks for the help thus far everyone! I am going to try erasor, the program. It was recomended to me by several people on other forums, so it must work. I like to not have to re-install the OS, so this looks like it will do the trick.

[cpuguy]

Thanks for the help thus far everyone! I am going to try erasor, the program. It was recomended to me by several people on other forums, so it must work. I like to not have to re-install the OS, so this looks like it will do the trick.

Hello,
someone in this thread said formatting your hdd will delete all the info on the drive. while this is true that data can still be rcovered by a swift wiz kid.
I am not sure of this but I do believe if you were to do the following all traces of you files would never be able to be recovered;
here goes.....exit windows to dos prompt, at the dos prompt type
"format C:/q/u"
of course no quotation marks follow the prompts and the disk will be formatted with all data unrecoverable.

[SimpleSimon]

Sorry, no joy there either. A low-level format, or file shredder is the minimum you need to do, and one pass of that's still not going to protect you from the guys in black - you need a DES-level eraser for that.

[JM Anthony]

I'd do some checking to see what kind of market there is in your area for used laptops. Given their general life expectancy and the replacement cost of aging batteries, I wouldn't buy a laptop that was more than a year or two old at the most. I just replaced a Toshiba that was about 3 yrs. old with a new Dell. To me door with a free printer for less than a grand.

[mini1]

Thanks for the help everyone. I sold the laptop, to some immigrant who is shippping it overseas as a holiday gift. He paid over what it was worth, since he knows nothing about computers.