busybee

Thanks so much for your reply - very very helpful!! :) To answer your question, i am an independent recruiter, registered with the information commission so want to make sure that all records i held for candidates etc are wiped completely. I use a hosted recruitment solution so removing this from the working pc hopefully means that nobody can access my live data from my old pcs (the actual files are stored by my supplier) but CVs/candidate ID info etc was originally emailed to me in outlook for uploading to the system so i guess the info would still be on the pc somewhere. I removed MS office on the working one then deleted all docs, temp files, the pre-fetch file (someone said that would be a good idea although I'm not sure why) emptied recyclign bin etc etc but to be sure i really want to wipe the operating system and everything. I have ordered some software from ebay which 'apparently' meets US and UK gov standards but was rather cheap so I am a bit sceptical but we shall see. I might use one of the free options you mention above first and then the disc from ebay afterwards to be sure? or will the first option make it impossible to even run the 2nd software?! eek so many techie questions...lol Re the broken one I will take apart the hard drive and smash everythig I find with a hammer :) after the morning I have had that could be fun.......

Hi , I have just joined. I am sorry if this is a really stupid question or one that has been answered on here many times before...i did have a quick look for the answer but I am a) lazy and b) in a rush and it didn't leap out at me... I am having a good old clear out and getting rid of my old (Dell optiplex) pcs and of course need to make sure I get rid of all the data properly! For the one that still works I am going to erase the hard drive using some software first - I think this should be OK - anything else I need to do? Is there any way to check after I have run the software that everything is gone? I will be freecycling this one. The other one is faulty and destined for the recycling centre. I think it was dropped and I can't even switch it on. I have managed to open it up and remove the hard drive- don’t laugh but this was a major achievement for a non techie numpty like myself!! Anyway what can I do to the hard drive to completely destroy it? I have heard drilling a hole in it is a good idea but not 100% fool proof - do any of you have any better suggestions please? Thanks in advance