Easiest way to clean out a computer
 

I just got a new computer and I am giving my old (2 years) Dell to my kids. I want to clean out the hard drive from all the old virus's, spyware, and crap my kids got prior to giving it to them. I also think the hard drive is going. I'm hearing a lot of buzzing and rattling when it spins. Should I just pitch the old one, install a new drive and reload Windows XP. Is it that simple or am I missing something.

Replace the drive, they're cheap. Before you throw the old one away, physically destroy it, making sure to break up the platters. You never know what's on there...

Re: Easiest way to clean out a computer
 

In addition to Thoms excellent advice you'll want to back-up any software or files that are important to you. Just don't back-up the virus crap.

Do you know how to configure the bios for the drive, use a boot disk, format the drive and install the OS?

Re: Re: Easiest way to clean out a computer
 

No, which is why I'm hesitant about doing this. Will a new hard drive come with instructions? I'm fairly fluent with computers, I've just never had to do this before and don't feel like shelling out cash to the "Geek Squad" on something I can do myself, (with a little help from this board). Thanks. A quick step by step would suffice.

Most new consumer-targeted drives come with s/w and instructions on how to handle the upgrade. You should install the new drive, install the OS, then temporaily install the new drive as a secondary to copy stuff from it. If you think the old drive has life left in it, you can always do a low-level format and use it to store your pr0n :)

I haven't "Fdisked" in quite a while. It's probably different now with XP. I wouldn't mind an up-to-date tutorial either. :)

I'm sure I could muddle my way through a gen...always nice to have a game plan ready though. My last pleasure was with Win95.

Oh and I'll have to replace the "nice girl" in your formula with my wife. :D

If you have a WindowsXP disk, the install is pretty simple. You will be lead to a menu to format your disk during the install. The HD manufacturer will also have formatting utilities with the software they provide. No need to use fdisk anymore. You should partition your drive in two so that you can back up everything to the second partition in case you need to reformat the first.

After you are done copying the data over from the first drive, download a program called Eraser 5.3. You can configure it to completely (suuposed CIA standards) erase the drive and then you can keep it as per Thom's recommendations.

Ya never know who's watching (err, reading this stuff) ;)

Re: Easiest way to clean out a computer
 

Don't you just want to do a search for *.jpg and then delete everything it finds? ;)

Re: Re: Easiest way to clean out a computer
 

Don't forget *.mov, *.mpg, *.mpeg and *.avi :D

Better yet, avoid the embarrassment and reformat.