thinking of giving old computer to a novice......How can I wipe hard drive completly clean?...is there programs for this? free programs?

http://www.killdisk.com/

This of course will remove the Operating System as well meaning the new owner will need to install one.

Before I forget........old computer and new one will be networked together for file transfers......can the old machine's drive be wiped while the two are still connected? commands given FROM the new computer...

Kill Disk is a boot program.

Either create and boot a floppy or CD.

Use Stellar Wipe - safe file eraser. It erases selected files and folders, wipes entire drive, cleans unused space on your hard disk and also removes Internet activities System traces and Application traces. from your computer. Extremely secure algorithms which conform to the various standards are used to ensure permanent data deletion. It is thus a complete solution for computer privacy. The Data once erased using Stellar Wipe is beyond the recovery limit of any Data Recovery Software.

Why pay money when there are plenty of free utilities to simply wipe a drive?

hat was quick........thanx for the input folks