From Leo's mailbag:
> From: A Computer User
> Sent: February 10, 2006
> To: Ask Leo!
> Subject: erasing things from a hard drive to be given away
>
> Leo,
> --------------
> I am planning to pass on my computer at work and am worried
> that the hard drive might still contain passwords and emails
> that might have been used on my computer. Although I have
> not purchased anything (no credit card details etc) but have
> accessed web based emails (O2, vodafone and hotmail). If
> there was a search on the harddrive, can old emails that have
> been looked at and sent from these accounts using the
> computer, or passwords / account details be retreived on the
> hard drive? Someone has suggested that even if things are
> deleted they are never "really" deleted.
In short, yes. This article has more:
http://ask-leo.com/how_should_i_erase_my_hard_drive_before_i_give_it_away.html
Thanks for asking,
Leo