Help an ignorant person clean out an old computer to donate please!

B

Breathe

New Member
I'm trying to decommission an old Dell desktop that I haven't used in a year. It has XP and runs fine, I just have 2 other laptops now....

I want to donate it but not sure how exactly I can clean the computer out so it is ready for donation.

I'm not ultra tech savvy but I follow directions well :D -- Can someone here help me with the steps I need to take to get everything erased and proper for donation?

Otherwise, it is delete / empty recycle bin for me and something tells me that just ain't right ;)

I did google searching however I'm not sure if disk erasers are for real or junk, etc.

Thanks for any help. OH - if I do need to download something to clean the PC (please give specific recommendations... thanks), preferably freeware ;)

Much much appreciated .....
 
you could use ccleaner to uninstall all apps and remove junk files from C:\ then format the other partitions by right-clicking them and pressing format (if you want to keep the OS)
OR
just format the hdd
 
Formatting your HDD won't do anything. You're most likely better off with a 3rd party software that completely erases it, unlike reformatting, which can be easily recovered.
 
the best thing to do if you are donating a pc is to remove the hard drive and donate the pc without a hard drive.
 
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