What steps should I take before selling my desktop computers?

I have a few desktop computers at my house that I plan on selling. Are there any steps I should take before selling them, with regard to clearing them of any personal information. Is it as simple as just deleting everything, or is there something more? What other things do people do to a computer to prepare it for being sold?

What steps should I take before selling my desktop computers?nortonantivirus

Well, I dunno, but the family geek tells me the only way to get rid of whatever is on your harddrive is to burn it lol. Get the rest of the computer overhauled by somebody who knows what they're doing, and assessed for its used value based on what kind of computer it is. Then advertise it as a used computer with make, model and age. You might want to ask the person who evaluates it whether he thinks it's worth buying a new harddrive and adding that to the asking price. Or just sell it as is and let the buyer g et his own.

What steps should I take before selling my desktop computers?spyware

All your info is stored on the hard drive, and deleted things aren't really deleted, they are simply marked by windows as info to be overwritten. Thus it is all still on the hard drive. The best thing to do is to wipe the hard drive clean. Darik's boot and nuke is a good way to do it. It is a free download. You could also just re-install windows and reformat the hard drive, but the Boot and Nuke disc is much more thorough.