Returning company laptop
 

Hi, just resigned from my job at an IT company which means giving back my laptop. It was hardly used for work but was used for music/pictures and therefore I downloaded some appropriate software.

Any tips on 'cleaning' up both the software and the data I have stored on it, I must stress there is nothing in any way dodgy/contraversial, just want to clean it before it goes back.

Standard issue Dell work laptop running XP.

Use the Dell restore discs to put back a nice clean image (once you have transferred all your own files off)

Any work stuff you could burn to DVD

Boot to a low level format and clear the low, take a few hours to do it well, then recover with Dell as above !!

No come back then

Run this Active@ Kill Disk Hard Drive Eraser. Low Level Format.

Then restore Dell build image

Search for Ultimate Boot CD. Has programmes to securely erase a whole hard disc whilst you boot from the CD. Free too.