[Clarification] Regarding Cluster Tips

[Etif]

I am going to be selling my computer and I have turned to Eraser to rid of the personal finance information I have stored on my computer.
I am pretty new at this, but I heard that Eraser is hands down the best tool to get rid of all of the personal information.

I am running Eraser, but I am encountering many errors regarding the cluster tips not being deleted because they are system files. After some research, I have a loose understanding that this is correct and they should NOT be deleted. Is this correct? Here are some examples:

Session: Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:26 PM
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chslm.wdic2.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chtlm.lex.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chtlm.wdic2.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\Content.xml did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file

Also, once the erasure has been completed, how should I go around making sure the sensitive information has been deleted? In addition, I have made many ballast files so that there is only 10 Gigs of storage left, it makes sense that this shouldnt take as long running only 1, 3 or even 7 passes correct? Thanks

 

[Joel]

I am going to be selling my computer and I have turned to Eraser to rid of the personal finance information I have stored on my computer.
I am pretty new at this, but I heard that Eraser is hands down the best tool to get rid of all of the personal information.

I am running Eraser, but I am encountering many errors regarding the cluster tips not being deleted because they are system files. After some research, I have a loose understanding that this is correct and they should NOT be deleted. Is this correct? Here are some examples:

Session: Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:26 PM
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chslm.wdic2.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chtlm.lex.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\chtlm.wdic2.bin did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file
Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:49:35 PM Information C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\Content.xml did not have its cluster tips erased, because it is a system file

Those look normal. They are informational messages, and shouldn't be of concern to the majority of people.

Also, once the erasure has been completed, how should I go around making sure the sensitive information has been deleted? In addition, I have made many ballast files so that there is only 10 Gigs of storage left, it makes sense that this shouldnt take as long running only 1, 3 or even 7 passes correct? Thanks

You can always try to use a recovery program to "undo" what Eraser did. Having ballast files would reduce the amount of free space needed to complete the erase, yes.