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Thread ID: 48170 2004-08-16 05:57:00 Deleting old programmes etc suebates (6032) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
262115 2004-08-16 05:57:00 I have a 3 year old computer which I would like to sell. It came with windows 98 installed but everything else I would like to remove. How can I be sure all other programs and information has been permanently removed? suebates (6032)
262116 2004-08-16 06:00:00 >How can I be sure all other programs and information has been permanently removed?

You cant unless you write zero's to the drive, reformat, and reinstall
Rob99 (151)
262117 2004-08-16 06:02:00 Hi and Welcome to PressF1 :)

The best way of doing this would be to reformat and reinstall Win98. Then reload any programs that you are including in the sale such as Office etc. It is also nice to install a free antivirus program for them as well such as AVG.
Jen C (20)
262118 2004-08-16 06:39:00 Well if you don't take above advice here is a program which will give the computer a good reaming:

personal.inet.fi
zqwerty (97)
262119 2004-08-16 06:56:00 Kill Disk (http://www.killdisk.com/) will do the job for you. There is a free version that does a one pass write with 0's. Read the Common Questions section before proceeding. Once done you can then format the drive and leave as is or re-install the OS, etc, as suggested (which will write more data to disc which is good).

If someone is determined to find out what was on the drive they can still do so if they are prepared to spend some money on data recovery. If you want/need more security than a one pass over-write then another programme like the pro (paid) version of Kill Disk will be required. Even then some data may be recoverable, it would cost heaps of $$ to do so though.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
262120 2004-08-16 07:29:00 if its 3 yrs old then y does it have windows 98? shouldnt it be XP or 2000 Hiren (3722)
262121 2004-08-16 08:29:00 Why? I have xp pro but put this back to 98se. Saves having to put security fixes in ad infinitum. Pretty face, but underneath, a bit bloated.
Bye
Peter H (220)
262122 2004-08-16 08:59:00 No Hiren. We replaced a PC at work about three years ago and had the choice of XP, 2000, or 98. For compatability reasons we chose 98, and moved to XP more recently. Winston001 (3612)
262123 2004-08-16 09:07:00 I believe up until sometime last year you could still purchase PC's with win98 pre-loaded. Wouldn't be my choice but depends on cost and usage I guess.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
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