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How to "wipe a computer clean" to sell??


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I have a desk top Dell that is a couple years old....paid WAY too much for it, but it was "top of the line" when we bought it (I say that knowing full well an Iphone is probably more powerful now days) but I figured it wouldn't hurt to either try to get a couple bucks off Craigslist for it if I can, or donate it, but either way I know it needs to have the memory cleared off it first so I am looking for a seriously dumbed down version of how to accomplish this.

I am seriously computer stupid! I can do some basic things, but me and technology don't exactly get along! So if anyone can help that would be greatly appreciated, just keep in mind I might have somewhere in the neighborhood of about 5,436,801,332 questions.

My personal preference to clean it off would be to do the "Office Space" to it and go hog wild with a bat, but I know that would be a waste. So if anyone can give me a very dumbed down link for "how-to," or could walk me through it while keeping the computer talk to a minimum and keeping it in normal man vocabulary that would be greatly appreciated! :)

Thanks!

Firm believer in letting my cars do my talking!

You can't rush quality, it doesn't happen overnight. Quality takes time and dedication, but the end results more than pay for it.

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how big is harddrive in it? and whatversion of windows did it have. id go buy a new harddrive for it. and keep your old one. harddrives are extremely cheap especialy if it doesnt need a high performance one. otherwise you need to run some sort of formatting program and to be safe you need to wipe it at least 3 times. the government wipes theirs like 9 times i think. i forgot what it is. but pretty much makes it impossible for any program to recover the magnetic data since it has been written over with 0s so much.

but best hing is to keep the hardrive get a new one. and put a ton of bullets through your old hard drive. even if you dent it some times data can still be recovered. put holes in it and mash to little pieces. then burn. only way to truly know its gone.

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BMW M340 xDrive

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Format it.

Lol, that falls into the "computer talk" category of which I have no clue WTF you are talking about!!! :)

Firm believer in letting my cars do my talking!

You can't rush quality, it doesn't happen overnight. Quality takes time and dedication, but the end results more than pay for it.

"Black Pearl" Build Thread

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/67183-1985-buick-regal-limited-build-log/page-1

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how big is harddrive in it? and whatversion of windows did it have. id go buy a new harddrive for it. and keep your old one. harddrives are extremely cheap especialy if it doesnt need a high performance one. otherwise you need to run some sort of formatting program and to be safe you need to wipe it at least 3 times. the government wipes theirs like 9 times i think. i forgot what it is. but pretty much makes it impossible for any program to recover the magnetic data since it has been written over with 0s so much.

but best hing is to keep the hardrive get a new one. and put a ton of bullets through your old hard drive. even if you dent it some times data can still be recovered. put holes in it and mash to little pieces. then burn. only way to truly know its gone.

I will grab the info off the computer tonight when I get done with work. I am not sure what the model number and harddrive size is.....hell I can't even remember what system it is running, but I am pretty sure it was Window's XP

Firm believer in letting my cars do my talking!

You can't rush quality, it doesn't happen overnight. Quality takes time and dedication, but the end results more than pay for it.

"Black Pearl" Build Thread

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/67183-1985-buick-regal-limited-build-log/page-1

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Typical formatting won't completely wipe the drive... you need to overwrite the whole thing with 1's or 0's (low level format).

If you only "format" the drive it can still be partially restored by a recovery program.

If you are really worried about the data on the drive research "low level format".

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I am not super worried because for the most part the only thing on the hard drive is all my college papers and a bunch of photos which have already been backed up to discs and my external hard drive....but I am really not even sure how much information gets stored on the hard drive so for that I would prefer just to feel comfortable that it is cleaned! In searching "low level format" is there one you can suggest that dumbs it down??? LMAO.

Firm believer in letting my cars do my talking!

You can't rush quality, it doesn't happen overnight. Quality takes time and dedication, but the end results more than pay for it.

"Black Pearl" Build Thread

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/67183-1985-buick-regal-limited-build-log/page-1

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this^^^ needs to be wiped multiple times with a different program than the windows format.

Buyer/Seller Feedback Thread: http://www.stevemead...5015-bump4life/
MB C220 153 Trunk Car Build Log: http://www.stevemead...d/#entry1840136
MB C280 Ipad Dash SQ Build Log: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/194484-bump4lifes-new-benz-tony-c-relay-kit-pictures-ce-electric-audison-front-stage-installed/
My SPL Log: http://www.stevemead...__fromsearch__1

BMW M340 xDrive

Stock, for now. Corner Load 10" maybe soon. But does 10s in the 1/4...
Best Scores out of a trunk
153.0 sealed legal full tilt clamped 5524 @ 42 hz
154+ windows down, 155+ kick

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i would honestly just see how big the harddrive is. it will be under 50 even 20 bucks for a new low level one

Buyer/Seller Feedback Thread: http://www.stevemead...5015-bump4life/
MB C220 153 Trunk Car Build Log: http://www.stevemead...d/#entry1840136
MB C280 Ipad Dash SQ Build Log: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/194484-bump4lifes-new-benz-tony-c-relay-kit-pictures-ce-electric-audison-front-stage-installed/
My SPL Log: http://www.stevemead...__fromsearch__1

BMW M340 xDrive

Stock, for now. Corner Load 10" maybe soon. But does 10s in the 1/4...
Best Scores out of a trunk
153.0 sealed legal full tilt clamped 5524 @ 42 hz
154+ windows down, 155+ kick

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