I want to reinstall windows xp and get rid of everything on the hard drive

[Noahsson]

I thought I posted this earlier today and now can't find it so here goes again. I have a hijack problem but don't want to go through the regular route to get rid of it because I also have a hard drive that is incredibly cluttered with programs I don't need. I would love to just reinstall windows xp but when I did and told it to overwrite I still discovered later that there are folders in the program files of things that I have downloaded in the past and deleted. These folders (kazaa, wildtangent etc.) are not runnable but still present. I need as much space as I can get. How do I blank out my harddrive and reinstall and get rid of everything. This is not a legal issue so I don't have to meet any standards as far as hiding something. I just don't want window recovering everything.

Thank you so much, this has been a tremedous headache
James

[Catweazle]

Hi James. You're in luck.

Follow the instructions in the articles linked to in this topic:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread6632.html

[Banderson]

Hi Noahsson,
Here is a link to some software that will do what you are wanting to do. Be sure to have windows recovery disk because it deletes your operating system too. DBan

[Catweazle]

A utility like that one would be useful if you wanted to 'sterilise' a drive for resale, Banderson, but for reinstalling Windows it's unnecessary. Deleting the existing partition and creating a new one is good enough ;)

[Bear]

A utility like that one would be useful if you wanted to 'sterilise' a drive for resale, Banderson, but for reinstalling Windows it's unnecessary. Deleting the existing partition and creating a new one is good enough ;)

I agree 100 % Catweazle, there is no need to throw third party software into this. A clean install of Windows Xp following the instructions provided here is the better solution. Just my 2 ¢

[Kinseeker69]

I thought I posted this earlier today and now can't find it so here goes again. I have a hijack problem but don't want to go through the regular route to get rid of it because I also have a hard drive that is incredibly cluttered with programs I don't need. I would love to just reinstall windows xp but when I did and told it to overwrite I still discovered later that there are folders in the program files of things that I have downloaded in the past and deleted. These folders (kazaa, wildtangent etc.) are not runnable but still present. I need as much space as I can get. How do I blank out my harddrive and reinstall and get rid of everything. This is not a legal issue so I don't have to meet any standards as far as hiding something. I just don't want window recovering everything.

Thank you so much, this has been a tremedous headache James

Just boot to the XP cd and select "Delete Partition" and the reforamt as you normally would. Just make sure that in BIOS the CD is set as the 1st boot device.

[avee_kothari8]

Since you do not want any of the existing data, while installing a fresh copy of windows:
Delete your partitions and create new ones depending on your needs. Also format the partitions.

[caperjack]

Since you do not want any of the existing data, while installing a fresh copy of windows: Delete your partitions and create new ones depending on your needs. Also format the partitions.

Hello Avee,welcome to Daniweb ,no need to answer 3 years old post ,lots of new ones need answer /help ,check the dates when reading and posting answers ,thanks