Before getting rid of a WPICS-owned PC, it is important to erase the machine so that the next owner is not given any important data that they aren't entitled to.

The easiest way to do this is to use a DBAN floppy or boot CD, available at http://www.dban.org/.

If you're in a big hurry and you KNOW that there is no sensitive information on the machine, you can simply reformat the hard drive.

The PC Shop has a nifty new(ish) hard disk crusher. Chopping the disks in two can be fun (actually the disks don't get chopped in 2, they just get folded a bit).

There's also a disk *degausser* which can magnetically erase the disks, I think. Chopping them in two is more fun, but the allegation is that a folded-in-half disk may still be readable if you're dedicated enough.

When rebuilding a Windows machine using GHOST, reformatting is not necessary; the ghosting procedure is sufficient to remove traces of the previously installed operating system.

When rebuilding a machine starting with a Windows installation CD or DVD, erasing the HDD is probably a good idea, but a comprehensive erasure also isn't necessary. A very short run with DBAN (a minute or so of runtime) will be sufficient to prevent the Windows installer finding information about the previous installation.