Handing down a computer to my cousin and i want to clean it as best i can...

Question

My cousin is going to be a freshman this year and i want to give him my old desktop that i don't use anymore for papers, research and what no..., what is the easiest and free way to clean it of my stuff and speed it up?

thanks a ton

Answer 1

Merely formatting won't delete your files securely; if you have recovery media and can re-install the OS,  download the DBAN iso, burn it to cd, boot from it and nuke the hard drive

free here

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/dban.html

if you merely want to shred private files and wipe the free space on your drive (securely overwrite previously deleted files so that they are irrecoverable), use File Shredder

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/file-sh...

also run CCleaner

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/CCleane...

Answer 2

format the drive and reinstall windows, then he can muck it up with whatever he wants.

Answer 3

clean re-install with a format.