How do I clear out my laptop before selling it?

sunni

Hello

Im selling a laptop and wondering how do I clear everything out ie, saved passwords, online banking details etc. Important files have been saved so I've that sorted.

I can't find the Windows XP discs at present to format and if I can't get them can I get a friends discs to do this?

Have heard that after a format erased files can be easily recovered so am abit worried?

Sunni

MX5huggy

If you have the product key from your XP (normally a sticker on the computer) you can use any disk but it has to be the correct flavour of XP home, or pro.

sunni

MX5huggy wrote: »

If you have the product key from your XP (normally a sticker on the computer) you can use any disk but it has to be the correct flavour of XP home, or pro.

Yes I see the product key sticker and it says Windows XP pro, my friends is xp home

enigma52

I would delete all the info you are afraid of someone seeing, then do a complete defrag, then download a programme to wipe free space (just do a google) then do a government wipe ie. pass 7 times and the laptop should be clean, no need to format and reinstall xp.
This should do it http://sourceforge.net/projects/wipefreespace/
or this one
http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ both are free the second one is more user friendly

MyBlackSon

If you had a factory reset CD with the computer simply uses to restore the computer to its original state. This will wipe all your personal details.

enigma52

MyBlackSon wrote: »

If you had a factory reset CD with the computer simply uses to restore the computer to its original state. This will wipe all your personal details.

usually it only formats the drive then overwrites the space it needs and renames any files left with an * so you can recover files after a factory restore (I have deliberately left out certain info, to safeguard against unscrupulous people trying this)

sunni

enigma52 wrote: »

I would delete all the info you are afraid of someone seeing, then do a complete defrag, then download a programme to wipe free space (just do a google) then do a government wipe ie. pass 7 times and the laptop should be clean, no need to format and reinstall xp.
This should do it http://sourceforge.net/projects/wipefreespace/
or this one
http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ both are free the second one is more user friendly

Thanks for this but am abit confused - what does the government wipe ie. pass 7 times mean?

enigma52

it means it wipes the free space 7 times as against the normal once, why don't you google anything you are not sure of? why not put a new hard drive in and put a 6" nail through the one you have?

flexrider

you could just try a clean install of windows if you have the disk to do so,

[Deleted User]

ccleaner can be set to overwrite free space 35 times

sunni

enigma52 wrote: »

it means it wipes the free space 7 times as against the normal once, why don't you google anything you are not sure of? why not put a new hard drive in and put a 6" nail through the one you have?

Ok thanks, I thought I had to do the defrag 7 times or something lol, as for putting in a hard drive I wouldnt have a clue where to start so will try the other recommendations first.