I had a pretty serious virus invasion recently, and rather than trying to recover my data none of which I care about I want to wipe my hard disk clean and start over. How do I do this?
You'll typically find it much easier to destroy data than to create it. Nonetheless, there's no direct way to wipe your hard disk clean from within Windows, and understandably so.
If you wipe your hard disk using either of the following methods, and you have no recent backup, you will lose all your personal data with no reliable means of retrieving it.
The easiest way to wipe your hard disk clean is to use the "restore disc" that came with your PC. Not only will it erase your hard disk, but it will reinstall Windows, all your drivers, and even much of the software that originally came with your PC. Just
insert the CD and follow the instructions.
Don't have a restore disc, or want more control? Just boot your system off an original Windows XP CD. Wait for a few minutes while Setup loads the drivers it needs and completes initiation, and then press Enter to "Set up Windows XP now." Press F8 to agree to the silly license, and moments later you'll see a list of drives and partitions on your system, like the one in Figure.
How you proceed at this point is up to you, but assuming there's no valuable data on your system, use the cursor keys to select partitions on your drive and then press the D key to delete them. (Deleting a partition instantly erases all data on it.) When there are no partitions left (all you see is "Unpartitioned space"), press the C key to create a new partition, type the maximum size for the partition (in MB), and press Enter. Then, highlight the new partition and press Enter to install Windows on it.
Complete the setup by following the instructions on screen.
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