How do I wipe everything on a computer?

[Indith]

It doesn't have any discs at all, I want to wipe all info but keep the operating system if that is possible. It runs XP. I want to stick it on freecycle tonight!

meh, looks like the dratted thing has given up the ghost anyway!

You can get a disc to run which wipes off all info.

If I was trying to be funny, I'd suggest a damp cloth.

be careful as the hard drive does still store info which can be used by experienced people to hack into any bank accounts etc that you may have used.

The only way that we have ensured the protection of our data is to take a hammer to the hard drive!

Have a google about and read what has happened to all these folk who have had their old computers shipped off to nigeria.

After you've done a proper secure wipe with a reputable product like DBAN then you need a CIA lab to get any useful data from it. The boys from Lagos won't bother. They will just move on to one that hasn't been properly wiped.

For "Spare Parts" I would remove the hard disk and let them have everything else.
Then go down your local dump and throw the hard disk into the compactor yourself!

Oh and in answer to your original question, it is really really time consuming to uninstall everything except Windows and even then you need to clear out the registry... Better to let them worry about it not having an Operating System on it and use the tools above to clear it down completely.

Thanks folks. Have someone wanting it all for the parts so I'll work out which bit is the hard drive and take it out before they collect