Metanet Forums

So, having gotten a new family computer, we're giving the old one to my aunt. However, I don't just want to restore it to factory settings; it has Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc, on it. So, I basically want to wipe everything I can off it (personal files, settings, users, viruses, etc) but still keeping those essential programs that are already there on.

I'm sorry but there's just no good way to automate this task. No matter what, you're going to be specifying what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. If you're just doing it once, it makes more sense to do it by hand.

I'd recommend a clean install regardless.

Delete all but the admin account, delete the home directory of the admin account (or at least everything in Documents, Pictures, Music, etc), then run CCleaner and uninstall everything you feel necessary, as well as using it to clean up cookies/caches/temp folders/registry/everything else it does.