Kate is right you only need to remove the harddrive with all the data on it.
what is wrong with the computer by the way?
most things can be fixed easier than you'd imagine and reused. yes even by
you, Polly.
it is not rocket science regardless of what some silly geek might tell you.
take a piece out, put a new piece in. easy peasey, really it is. just gotta
be gentle when doing it.

but anyhow....
did it come with a manual?
that should show/tell you how to open the case and show you all the innards
and what is what.
no manual?
then try a google search thru images to find you computer. once you know
that, you can google for pix of the innards.
or you can tell us what brand it is and we can do it for you.
getting into towers is not hard. mine is a dell and has two big buttons you
push and the thing opens on a hinge to get inside and see all that is there.
so what computer is it?
approx year you bought it?
sounds like you are running WIN XP.
j.

"Polly Esther" wrote ...
You underestimate how clueless I am but I like the way you think. What does
the hard drive look like? Polly

"Kate in MI"
You don't need to kill the whole computer. Assuming it is a desktop (not
a laptop) - just take the cover off and pull out the hard drive, put the
cover back on and contact your local recycling center to find out what to
do with it.

Then take a hammer to the hard drive. (Put it in a zip loc back -- so
the pieces don't fly all over the place.

The data is on the hard drive. The other stuff would not have data on it.
Happy smashing!
--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves


"Polly Esther" wrote...
I need to destroy a computer. It's not that I'm angry or anything. I
just need it destroyed to ashes.
There's nothing on it that would be particularly useful to the law
enforcement drones - just stuff that's personal and I don't want to
share.
Do I take a screwdriver and axe, disembody it and set the whole
thing on fire?
Years ago, a friend of DD's took one out to the police dept's
firing range and let them have a go at it. (That computer was a contrary
mean cruel worthless ornery ... well, you get the picture ... and it
gave him a lot of pleasure to have it shot through.)
I don't need that level of killing; just want to know a 'safe' way to
obliterate everything on this one and make it gone, gone, gone. Polly