I am selling me old computer i have a basic idea of how to wipe all my stuff off it but not sure about deleting my user account can anyone help? also as anyone any ideas how i can find out how much to sell it for it is an hp pavillionf1523 intel pentium 4 2.8ghz 256mb 80gb hp dvd writer. all in brilliant working order. thanks

The best way to ensure any and all your personal data is beyond the reach of even determined snoopers, is to "wipe" the drive with Eraser. It uses DBAN technology to overwrite the entire disk multiple times to ensure none of your previous data recoverable. This will then require you to reinstall Windows, but it will surely be a fresh install.

If I was selling it at our Thrift Store I'd price it around $125. If it comes with a hidden recovery or XP Install CD partition then I'd price it around $150. I'd accept less but that's a good starting point.

Note that following digerati's advice, although it is it good idea (and something that I would do) it will take several hours. How long depends upon the hard drive's speed (in rpms), the size, & the number of times that the data is overwritten. Expect the operation to take quite some time and make to do a full over write instead of a quick one, if that is even an option.