I am getting rid of my computer because I'm getting a new one. My best friend needs a computer, so -out of the kindness of my heart- I'm giving him my computer to him for free. BUT NOW I have to know how to CLEAN my computer free from all of my history. My favorite sites and all. Plus his wife might get mad if she see's anything like "Victoria Secrets" Models on the computer! LOL! What can I do? Other than going to Tools, internet option, delete history? Is there anything else I should do to make it LIKE it's a brand new computer for him?
2007-01-20 16:48:49 · 9 answers · asked by lorenzo 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
format the computer, put the windows disk in and reboot, then follow the instructions.
2007-01-20 16:55:34 · answer #1 · answered by no 1 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If she's nazi enough and insane enough to get programs to recover the data from your HDD (you can still recover data from reformatting -costs a ton though), you might want to simply take out the current hard drive and have him buy a new one. Nowadays hard drives are extremely cheap. Formatting will help but again, unless you completely destroy the data (which involves overwriting on the HDD several thousand times and is expensive to do) she can still recover the data. I dont know if your friends wife is a real paranoid and demanding person. Safest thing to do is install a new hard drive. Keep the old hard drive for yourself as a data drive.
2007-01-21 00:57:12 · answer #2 · answered by wildhair 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A standard rule I always apply is that i wipe my computer by doing a full format, you can do this by creating a boot disk and using the format command, this wipes all the data, then re-install the operating system, if you don't have access to the original install disk you can go thru and manually remove all user files. This is the hard way though.
2007-01-21 00:55:40 · answer #3 · answered by OzHawk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems like you should be able to reinstall Windows, which will effectively erase everything but maintain the original software. I've never done it before, but in theory it should work. If you have the Windows CD it should be easy. Otherwise you will have to manually go through each program (and the drive itself) and fiddle with the preferences and history until everything is erased.
Of course, this assumes you use WIndows. If you use something else, I don't know. :P
God bless.
2007-01-21 00:53:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Safest is to format the harddrive and reload windows. If that's not an option, delete your history, delete files, delete cookies. Then go to content tab, click autocomplete, then click Clear Forms and Clear Passwords.
2007-01-21 00:54:36 · answer #5 · answered by es2000us 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Format the hard drive and reinstall the operarting system (like windows). It will be like brand new.
2007-01-21 00:52:23 · answer #6 · answered by Donald J 2 · 7⤊ 0⤋
No problem, download this free program to erase all tracks. http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/. Good luck. Mikie.
2007-01-21 00:55:14 · answer #7 · answered by Mikie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
remove the hard drive.......put in a new one for him but keep it as a spare . after you've downloaded all your info from your old P.C.
2007-01-21 00:55:42 · answer #8 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, Donald J pretty much said it all.
2007-01-21 00:54:32 · answer #9 · answered by fisticuffs 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋