Inspiron 600m..would like to remove all info on it...HELP

My daughters 600m Inspiron has a busted monitor so she would like all info wiped from it so everything can be reinstalled. She is wanting to do this because a friend is going to take over the laptop and have the monitor fixed. Can someone tell me how I can wipe everything off it including hidden files. Once I do that I will reinstall WinXP(professional) and all the drives etc. Thanks -M

That should be very easy given it's a laptop, simply use the makers recovery to reinstate the PC to out of the box state, and if asked about backing up data\files say no, and select destructive restore if prompted, this will set the PC back to the day it was very first powered on, this will wipe everything and reinstall it all in the same go. Now there may be a few ways to access this option, simplest way is look in the Start - All Programs list, look for any kind of recovery bit, or look for recovery in the makers bits, if you find this then just access it and follow the instructions, if you see no such option watch the screen as you boot, it usually has options displayed (albeit briefly) as to what button to press to access various area's, often F2 is for recovery, but each maker has they're own way, some easier than others, but once you identify what to press again follow the on screen instructions, hopefully this should get you off and running, feel free to holla if you can't find this option.