[wachtn]

I have been asked to wipe all the personal information and files off a computer running Windows XP. What is the best/most effective way to do this?

Here is my current plan. Please help me improve it any way you can.

Manually search for and delete personal files and information.
Run CCleaner to clear data and wipe free space.

Thank you for all your help.

[Lexluethar]

Sounds like a solid plan. Just delete anything in 'my documents' then search around a bit on the desktop and on the C drive to ensure the user didn't add any folders.

If you had the opportunity, you could reinstall the OS (not sure if you ahve the CD's available to you). The easiest solution would be as you've already outlined though.

[Mak213]

You may want to use something like a Shredder program. Even using the method you describe wont fully get rid of the data and can allow for the data to be recovered. You need a shredder program or a program that not only deleted but re-writes to the area at least 7 times to make sure that it can not be recovered.

If you really want to kill the disk, use KillDisk or DBAN or something else and from there reinstall Windows. That would be the safest way to make sure that the disk has no information from the personal data.

[wachtn]

Thanks for all your advice.

Are there any programs that display the complete file structure including system, user, and hidden folders? I've known people to hide files in hidden folder placed inside system directories.