The only sure way of removing all data from a hard drive is to remove it and use a BFH.
Who knows what Windows will "accidentally" miss, even with disk overwriters.

Get a new hard drive and call/write MS and let them know your hard drive crashed and need to reinstall XP from the backup CD and need a serial code or whatever.
You've bought your OS licence right? You should have the write to use it on your computer.

:D

Moses,

VM just released their beta.

A bit slicker than Parralels which I think is a great product. A bit faster as well and a ton of preconfiguered images.

Get the Beta and check it out.

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/

scott

I used the Windows XP PRO OS that came with the computer. No problem after I changed the boot order.

I'm not concerned about security with this computer, I just didn't want him to have to sift through all my old stuff. My old stuff may not be gone, but it's not showing up either so it's all good.

DANG!!! Got here too late. Could have saved you a little BIOS hassle had I seen this thread earlier. If I remember correctly, instead of pressing F2 to get into the BIOS, you could have pressed F12 (at the same point) to bring up the boot menu...giving you the option to choose Floppy, HDD, CD-ROM, Network, etc.

NOTE-This is not a permanent change, just a temp, one time thing that can be repeated whenever necessary.

Oh well, maybe a tidbit to pass on to your brother-in-law, should the occasion arise.

Randy

Now comes the fun of getting iTunes/iPod to work on a PC...

yea....it toook me months to figure it out as they don't have any kind of help around...but yet my neice just plopped down and used like a pro in seconds, while i fumble and curse for months.