BleepingComputer.com: How To Permanently Delete Files

I am selling my laptop and need to remove some programs/files etc. from it. I know simply deleting my different files/documents etc. isn't enough and hopefully there's some program out there that will permanently delete these files...while of course leaving alone the ones that need to be kept! <g>


Kandra

Best thing to do is to pop in the restore disks (you do have them and are including them with the purchase, right?), reformat the drive and reinstall Windows.

If you have sensitive information on there and you want to be extra certain it can't be recovered, grab a bootable copy of Darik's Boot & Nuke, that'll let you sanitize the drive up to DoD standards.

The easiest way to do it is to totaly reformat the harddisk and than do a fresh install of the operating system. Make sure you backup the necessary drivers on a CD(if possible) If not it will be somewhat more time consuming to do it.

1) Uninstall all programs you do not want to give along
2) Reboot and Download install and update Ccleaner
After installing and updating go to options - advanced and tick prompt for registry back ups
Now Start up in safe mode
Do two runs

a) Click on problems and tick all. Click on analyse. At the end you will be prompted for storing a backup.
This will be stored, as a default, in My documents.
Click on cleaner click on analyse and accept all files to be removed.

Clean out the "My documents"folder as well as any other folder yo feel sensitive data is in

If you don't want to do a reinstall then you can delete all the files that you don't want left on the HD, empty your recycle bin and then download and run Eraser, which will overwriting the unused areas of your HD with carefully selected patterns so that no data can be retrieved.

Make sure you delete all information in .NET Passport.

If you have Spybot S&D on your computer you can use the Secure Shredder Feature to destroy files.
Open Spybot and go to the Advanced mode. Open Tools and go to ecure Shredder. All you do is drag the file and\or folders into the windows and select the "Chop Away" button in the lower right corner.

Or, you could buy a new hard drive (about $80), install it, and run the Recovery disks. Then you can keep the old hard drive and won't have any worries about anyone accessing your data.

For a bit more, you can get a hard drive enclosure and you can then use it for additional storage on your next system.