If I want to dispose of a computer, how do I completely clear it of all personal details, so that it cannot be retrieved by anyone else?

There are several ways to do this Job
Most drastic Formatting the Hard Drive which means a total reload of the Operating system
However you can delete the History and Temp files which is straight forward but this leaves traces of some surfing activity
But it is ultimately deletable with an Orphan registry
file removal removal tool program
Dwight may be able to locate such a program for you?
Btw Welcome to the Pool

When I want to securely clean a hard drive, I use Autoclave from a boot floppy, you can download it here .

You can use up to 25 passes, though it would take along time to run that many, I usually use 3 passes, which is sufficient for most cases.

chris

I did this once a long time ago, and what I did was called an unconditional format. It's like wiping the slate clean, or a brand new brain with no information in it yet. I did it thru the Dos Prompt.

Grayhair:

If you still have MS-DOS Prompt in your machine do this:

Drag Mouse to Start/Find

Type in the open space:

Command.com

& Enter. When you get the MS-DOS prompt

Type Format C:

& Enter. This will format your Disk & clear out everything on it.

Do remember that data can still be retrieved from a hard drive even if it has been formatted

Even zero-fill cannot guarantee absolute security, but in 99% is probably the safest way.

Most Hard drive manufacturers have a zero-fill utility on their downloads page

In my earlier post I mentioned Autoclave, well, it zeros out the hard drive completely, or so it states, and makes it virtually impossible for all but the most sophisticated programs to uncover any data left. I heartily recommend it.

chris

first you take out the hare drive then you buy or rent or borrow a sledge hammer and then set it gently down on concrete then with all the anger that you have gathered from past days you start pounding it with the hammer and dont stop till theres not much left then you can build a fire in the fire place and burn that to a crisp then email the fbi and tell them you have some data from the east. im quite certan they can retrive the info. HEH HEH HEH sometimes i have to much fun. oh ya the hammer should be about 20lbs

if I do as donaldekliros says, does that mean all the programs clear off too. Like windows 98 and Office 97? Is it easy to re install these programs. Thanks again

I did a tutorial on how to format your hard drive and installing Windows 98 some time ago

Make sure that you have your WINDOWS 98 CD KEY before you start

Sorry but it is too complicated for little ole me. I think I will just put the computer in the cellar for now and forget about it. Thanks anyway putasolution, your are very kind.