I'm giving my old computer to a friend, so am in the process of deleting all of my info. I'd like to wipe the hard drive, but I no longer have my Windows installation CD (I know, I know). Is there any way I can do this without deleting operating system files? Are there reliable programs that will only wipe selected folders? Please suggest a course of action. :)

Get the names of folders to wipe into a text file with complete drive, path like this: c:\mystuff e:\pix then use this script: =========================================== :: NOTE: here the list isn called FOLDLIST @echo off & setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (foldlist) do ( pushd %%a for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%f in ('dir/b/a-d') do ( type nul > %%f ) ) ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

mmm - have you tried to get a replacement disk from vendor/supplier and/or M$? Surely worth a try?