Needing some help concerning desktop computers

[Msbsgblue]

I have a Windows XP as well as a Vista and want to sell both computers as I am now using laptops due to my disability and no longer need the other 2 computers.

As much as I have taught myself over the years and I can do a lot, I do not know what I need to do or remove from these computers so that the purchaser cannot go in and get any personal information such as photos, social security number or other.

Do I need to remove the hard drives or what? It seems fruitless to sell a computer if it is not working when them come to try it out.

I just want to remove any and all personal info from them so I can list them for sale.

As usual, thank you all in advance,

Pat

[Train]

I usually DBAN the harddrive and reinstall the OS.
The default is 3 layers and that buries things nicely.
http://www.dban.org/

[Msbsgblue]

What is DBAN? I should not be so dumb after years of being able to design websites and to do animations etc. I taught myself so much and yet so much I don't know. Can one do an over-install instead of reinstall. TY

[jdc2000]

DBAN will overwrite all of the data on your hard drive multiple times to insure that the average user cannot recover anything. You would need your original installation media or a recovery disk to re-install Windows and any included software.

[Msbsgblue]

ty vm

[Msbsgblue]

i'm good ty