Wiping an old computer
Before you sell, donate or recycle a computer, your personal data must be deleted securely.
You will need
- The old computer
- External hard drive for backups
- The operating system's reset feature
Steps
Back up your data
Copy important files to an external drive or the cloud.
Sign out of services
Remove the device from your accounts
Restore the factory settings
Choose to clean the drive
Check the result
Recycle properly
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