Inspiron 1520 XP Pro needs to be reset to factory

I've been using Windows 8 on my personal computer and 7 before that.  My wife hands me her Inspiron 1520 and asks me to reset it to factory settings so she can sell it without fear of any of her data surviving.

So, tell me, what's the cleanest way of accomplishing this?  I have the original OS disk and Utilities disk, so I'm in good shape there.  Just, what's the best way to approach this project.

Thanks as always for any help that can be offered,

BSB

Hi BSB,

You may follow the steps shared on the link http://dell.to/13MzsYe to restore the system back to factory settings. If this does not work, then you can format the hard drive and reinstall the Windows using the re-installation media that you have. You may refer to the link http://dell.to/140lPlq for instructions.

Note: Please backup the data as this process will lead to data loss.

Hope this helps. Please reply if you have any questions.

See Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows XP: http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/

Ensure you carry out the additional Step 7a and securely wipe your hard drive with DBAN. This will be a lot better than the standard format of the factory settings or of the XP installation CD. You may need to temporally disable the card reader as mentioned in the guide. 

I have merged both your posts together. As mentioned earlier you should securely wipe your drive using DBAN. See my Windows Reinstallation Guide for more details.

Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) is free erasure software designed for consumer use. DBAN users should be aware of some product limitations, including: No guarantee that data is removed Limited hardware support (e.g. no RAID dismantling) No customer support DBAN is a self-contained boot disk that automatically deletes the contents of any hard disk that it can detect. This method can help prevent identity theft before recycling a computer. It is also a solution commonly used to remove viruses and spyware from Microsoft Windows installations. DBAN prevents all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis. It does not provide users with a proof of erasure, such as an audit-ready erasure report. Professional data erasure tools are recommended for company and organizational users. For secure data erasure with audit-ready reporting, contact Blancco or download a free evaluation license.

I have used DBAN on about 30 systems and it does a pretty good job.

The manual clean installation suggested by Dell-Kiran K and restoring to factory settings Dell-Saharsh K have only the weak Windows format and will not completely wipe the drive which is what you should do before selling your computer.