Cleaning a Harddisc?

Hello guys,

I've just got myself a new laptop and want to get rid of my old pc to a friend.

How do i go about cleaning the harddisc?

(i'm running xp pro)

Preferably without reformating the harddisc as
1 i'm a lazy bastard
2 my friend still lives in the dark ages on a dial up connection and getting windows updates/software would be a nightmare.

Many Thanks!

 

All i did was to save the things i wanted to keep to an external source (in my case an ext HD) and then reformat the PC.

if there is a better solution i am sure it will be given by our wizards.

 

What do you think about software like Kill Disk or Drive CLeanser?