Hi, I have an old computer that I purchased in 2001 and put Windows XP Home Edition on about 5 years ago. Last fall we purchased a new computer for me that has Windows 7 (love this version--good job, by the way), and I am no longer using the Windows XP Home Edition computer. My niece needs a basic computer but I want to erase everything from that computer's memory before passing it along to her. How do I go about F disking the machine? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you. Shana Margrave1 person needs an answerI do too

If I understand correctly, you want to erase the computer's hard disk. Memory (RAM) is something different and is erased every time you turn the computer off. You can boot from the Windows XP installation disk and delete the existing partition, which will remove your files. You can then, optionally, create a new partition and install a brand new copy of Windows XP in it for your niece to use. If you do that, be sure to run Windows Update repeatedly to install all available updates. Keep running it until it says there are no updates available.Boulder Computer Maven Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Merely reformatting will not guarantee the data stored on the disc is made inaccessible. If you have anything on it that is really confidential, you would need to do more. But since I presume you trust your niece, it's probably not an issue for you.