How can I erase every file off my computer

Question

Is there a program I can buy from a store? Or can I re-format(sp?) it. Will that erase everything? How do I re-format it?

Answer 1

Check link below for permanently  deleting computer data.

http://www.whitecanyon.com/disk-erase.ph...

Answer 2

I just purchased a cd offline called elinuxware cd wiper it cleared my whole comp out.You can contact the company at www.elinuxware.com.It ony cost $7.00 and that was with the shipping included!!!

Answer 3

You can also physically destroy the drive if its that important.

Answer 4

Put your OS cd into the disk drive and run setup.exe from the disk. You can reformat and reinstall the OS that way.

Answer 5

Ok, now the first thing to do is search for the CD that came with the computer, The Recovery CD.. In case you bought Windows XP off the shelf, or upgraded with a friends "help" you are Ok, in case you have an OEM WindowsXP CD (if you bough from Dell, Gateway,HP,etc) then ensure that you do not have any additional things on. Unplug all USB devices. If you have added stuff like say a new ethernet card because the old one fried up in a storm, take it out. Ensure that you have drivers for all the additional stuff that you might have added.

Now put the OS CD in the drive & restart the computer. If you try to run the CD from within Windows, you will get error messages. Now when you restart, Windows CD should by default get loaded & ask you Qns.. Like the version of Windows is different, you'll lose all data if you continue (in case you had the Service Packs downloaded & installed), chose yes & go ahead.Here are the standard steps you need to follow for the procedure.

1) Format & recover the system.

2) Install a good AV BEFORE you plug internet in.

3) Update AV the FIRST thing when you go online.

4) Enable windows Updates so that your computer has all the available patches. In fact I'd say after updating AV, go to windowsupdates.com & get ALL the updates.

5) Now get a good Firewall if you have a always on internet connection.

6) Get some good Anti Spyware/Malware too, SPybot "Search & Destroy" & "Ad-Aware" are what I use, they are good & they come free. Also get something like McAfee's Siteadvisor, which warns you which sites are knows sites for sending spyware/malware/spammers.

The reason for the extra work is so that you stay protected & do not have to format your computer over & over again.