Best way to clean a hardrive on a Win. XP laptop?

[warthog]

I have to turn in my old computer next week, and I would like to try to get rid of any personal info. I hardly use this laptop for anything other than work, but I still don't like the idea of my info being out of my control. I would like to get rid of browser history and saved passwords. What is the best way to do this. Re-installing and starting over is not an option. I have none of the disks, plus there is info on the drive that will be transferred over to my new machine.

Thanks for the help, and yes I know we have a tech talk forum.
I just like you guys better.

[milton]

What browser are you using?

Short of re-installing, the best way would be to login under a different account and delete your profile..Control panel>System>Advanced>User Profiles, select, delete. If you have admin rights to the computer, you can create a temporary user and give it admin rights then use that.

You won't be able to login under your account after this if your computer is joined to a windows domain!

[haydukelives]

Try download.com.
there are several free programs to wipe everything with various layers of overwrite from 3x on up
or just format the HD

[dumpy]

Try download.com.
there are several free programs to wipe everything with various layers of overwrite from 3x on up
or just format the HD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_comprehension

[Chugachjed]

Dishwasher. Or warm water and bleach.

[JimmyCarter]

http://eraser.heidi.ie/

[pointedem]

if you don't have admin, there isn't much you can do other then watching your IT guy manually clean the disk.
or
search for winxp pw crack programs. basically you d/l the program on another comp; throw it on a jump drive, and insert jump drive into work comp upon bootup, and let the program work. That will get you admin, then once u have admin it looks like miltons advice is correct.

[warthog]

Ok, so it sounds really complex. No way am I going to sign myself on as an admin. That is just asking for further audit.

I guess I'll just leave it alone, and trust that they don't give a shit if I occasionally look at TGR. I think the computer might have once, a year ago, been used to look at pornhub on a business trip. If they bust me for that, so be it. Not like I am e-mailing TJ donkey show pics or anything. The way I see it, if it looks like I went out of my way to clean it up, it will give them more reason to really look deep.

Thanks for the help. Glad I have a home computer.

[PNWbrit]

Don't bother.

Your IT guy already has better porn than you do.

[carvedog]

yeah all the IT guys I know have pron that makes the rest of us look the church lady...

[dumpy]

Do you work for a really uptight company?

Have you fucked your IT guy's wife and/or daughter?

NO? Then I wouldn't worry about it. Most companies are more concerned with what happens on their networks than they are with what road warriors do with their laptops in some hotel room somewhere.

You get a virus on your laptop? BFD, they re-image it.

You infect other machines on the network (possibly including servers)? Major PITA.