Formatting

[Mithrandir]

Hullo,

I want to completely clean my old PIII, it has XP on it. I want to get rid of windows and all additional programs. How to ?

Thanks.

[Mithrandir]

btw. in kiddy language please. I am not technical.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Go to Start, Run, type in command. It should come up with that black box thing. Type in 'C: Format'. It should ask you 'yes' or 'no'. Type in 'y'.

That's the simplest way i know of.

EDIT: It might be 'Format C:' rather than 'C: Format'. Try both.

[R'as al Ghul]

Dude, what's that supposed to do?
Self-destruction mode?
Windows can't format the drive that it's living on.

Mithrandir,
Start/boot from the Original CD, select the Recovery console
and type "format c:\" or there maybe an option to select.

Why do you want to do it? Do you want to sell it?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Another way of formatting it is to remove the drive from computer, hit it with a sledgehammer a bit, then throw it out of a window. Pick up the remains, and keep on using it. And trust me, a bit of sellotape will solve any problems caused by this method, whereas sueing me for its failure won't.

[R'as al Ghul]

Okay, seriously.

If you want to get rid of the PC (sell it) and make sure that all data
is deleted, formatting alone won't do it. Xiahou just posted a tool in the
freeware/open source thread that is capable of deleting everything beyond recovery.
For such an operation you either need a working Operating System (XP f.e.) or a Live-CD or your original WinXP-CD to access the harddrive.
If you just want to reinstall Windows, than just boot your XP-CD and make a new install, thereby deleting/overwriting all content. Viruses, malware etc. will go away, too.
If you want to install a new OS, like linux, on the harddrive than the setup of that OS will be capable to clean the drive for you during install.

What's it gonna be?

[LeftEyeNine]

Mithrandir,

If you just want to get rid of everything on you HD, R'as al Ghul has already explained the way. However if you want a new, fresh Windows, then setup of Windows will lead you to formatting of your drive when you choose to install Windows -not the recovery console- in setup's first option screen. And when it propmts for which file system to use, choose "format using FAT file system". Since your PC is old a bit that you may face compatibility issues if your system fails in the future. However NTFS is a more optimal file system in case you want to try it. I'm using it peacefully.

Good luck

[InsaneApache]

Go into BIOS (I think it's the delete key as you're booting up)* change your boot start up to cd-rom. Save. Place XP disc in drive. Re-start. Then when you get the prompt 'boot from disk?' press Y.

It will give you an option to format and create Partition. When it re-starts sit back and relax. Do not press Y again when prompted.

Hope that helps.

*not all computers use the same key - but mine is delete key.