[Stymied]

I just bought a new MacBook. A couple of people are interested in my 5 year old Dell for their own use.
I have routinely cleared the cookies and blocked most of them every time I was logging. I also routinely ran the ATF Cleaner and Did AdAware scans. I was also protected by regularly updated Symantec Antivirus and Firewall, which I ran in place of the Windows Firewall.

How vulnerable could I be to personal data being exposed or otherwise compromised if I give the old machine away? Also is there an easy way to transfer the license for the software to a new owner, so all updates are no longer registered to me (change the name associated with the computer)?

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If your giving it away the safest way would be to format hard drive and reinstall windows

[charge06]

If your giving it away the safest way would be to format hard drive and reinstall windows

[123Runner]

Run Dban on it (in my signature). It writes 1 and 0's to the drive. Reformat and reload the OS

[Troy]

Another option would be to keep the hard drive yourself, and completely dismantle it yourself (have fun with a hammer).

You're giving a free computer away, they can buy themselves a new hard drive.

Just another thought to the equation, although DBAN is definitely a good choice.

Troy