clean my computer

[mgwy8240]

How do i wipe all personal info off my laptop before i sell it?

And how do i know if everything is erased?

Cheers.

[abfandango]

You need to use specialist software, and perform wipes very many times. Try the net, there are various good pieces of software out there.

[pjm007]

Wouldn't re-formatting it be a simpler solution or would that not work ?

[abfandango]

Reformatting is insufficient to make the information beyond recovery. You should be looking at "military grade wiping" which is 8x.

[Nutski]

I have software which is capable of restoring formats back x6.  This is easily available to purchase over the net.  Its true you would have to format it at least x8 (notice i say least) times.   Trouble is that the information can still be accessed by certain authorites and remember do not become lasy and use the /q on a format.

The only safe way of getting rid of this info is to destroy the hdd and replace it, if you are that paranoid.  �70 now could save a lot more than that if you have information you do not wish to divulge...

[abfandango]

Who doesn't have information they wish to divulge? I mean, I don't look at anything illegal, although I'm sure some of those buying these 'wipe it clean' packages have done so. But I may have credit information stored on disk. And if 60+percent of UK pcs have spyware and trojans on them, who knows what some hacker could have put on their machine?

I'd go for the Hard drive swap, yep.