Madcatz

If you format a hard drive, it will erase everything on it so only data recovery software can find the files.

If you wipe the hard drive, it over writes all the info effectively making any data impossible to read again.

So yes, erasing the hard drive is going to delete anything and everything, including factory shipped programs. But your computer probably came with recovery discs that you could use to put windows and those factory programs back on, the state your computer was in when you pulled it out of the box.