It is extremely difficult if not impossible to remove all traces of user files from a Win95 system whilst retaining the OS itself, and as a consequence is rarely attempted. The easiest way for a "noobie" to wipe the contents of a hard drive clean in preparation for a new system install is to use the various utility floppies or CD that comes with a new hard drive. Maxtor and other popular brands come with such a utility disk, and they can usually be used with brands other than intended. Simply "boot" the utility disk and follow the instructions for a "low level format". That will wipe out all old data on the drive and leave it in a state ready for reinstalling windows or another operating system like linux from scratch.
Try this, then load Windows afresh.
This will make any and all data on the disk unrecoverable, including the operating system.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
As I understand it, a low-level format of an IDE drive will destroy it. I would FDISK, FORMAT, run a disk scrubber with DoD-class security, then FDISK, FORMAT and install Win98 from scratch.