Selling my computer and worried about info...

[Syntex]

Okay so I am selling my computer to someone I don't know very well because I just got a new one and was wondering what I could do to clean it so they don't have any of my old info like the sites I visit or old passwords.

I know about clearing cache/cookies/saved passwords option on chrome but is there any way someone could somehow get that info again? Or find a way to some of the webpages I been(my bank account page comes to mind) by going through some temp internet files and whatnot?

Basically is there more I can do(other then bricking the HD and what I mentioned) to make it so my computer will be safe without any of my info in the hands of a stranger?

[Crowort]

You can just reinstall windows?

[baroom]

there are programs out there to format your HDD a few times makes sure all your info is off but if the guy isnt like a super computer hacker a fresh formated install of windows should be fine.

[Cephius]

Just format the hard drive and reinstall windows.

[Isiolia]

Format and write zeros. Ultimate Boot CD has utilities to do it if you don't have one. Or buy a new HDD to put in it and keep your old one.

[bungiefan]

Format the drive a couple of times, or just keep your hard drive and install it in the new machine, and replace it with a new unused drive. There are programs out there to securely erase drives, and programs out there to recover deleted files or formatted drives.

[thegilseller]

Your best bet is to just buy a new HDD as stated and replace the old one, second option I'd suggest is to format a few times and write zeros to the drive.

[Korietsu]

There are several utilities that allow you to write 1's and 0's to the HDD to wipe out data. USDOD standard is a 7 pass wipe. OSX has a 35 pass option.

[Sonomaa]

Your best bet is to just buy a new HDD as stated and replace the old one, second option I'd suggest is to format a few times and write zeros to the drive.

this
depending on how big it is you can get another one for super cheap

[Kerberoz]

Run a program to write zeros then reinstall windows. Once.

Contrary to popular belief, it does not matter how many times you write zeros. Once is exactly the same as 35,000 times (except 35,000 times would kill the motor). Hard drives are not magic and no, not even the FBI can recover zeroed drives. It's a myth.

"Formatting" as in using the windows disk doesn't erase your data. It only deletes file headers so they can be written over.

[StevenW]

You could always use Eraser, you can set it to completely overwrite your free space or any files of your choosing with random data making it completely unusable or readable, it even does file names.

It's a really helpful and free tool I used when I sold my external hard drive!