Some people may feel more at ease removing the hard drive altogether before sending the computer off to its new home.įor more detailed information on how to do step-by-step factory resets on Mac, Chromebook, or Windows PC. In theory, a determined hacker can potentially uncover old files after a factory reset. Also, never forget to back up your important data to an external drive, or to the cloud if you have a Mac, before you perform the factory reset. Wiping a computer clean with a factory reset will be sufficient to safeguard your personal data. The best solution to ensure the computer is back to a clean slate is, performing a factory reset. Whether this is possible depends on a number of factors.

Or you can miss deleting some important files altogether,” he says. Option 1: Wipe Any Entire Drive Option 2: Wipe Only Free Space Option 3: Wipe Your Windows System Drive 0 seconds of 1 minute, 13 secondsVolume 0 00:25 01:13 What You Need to Know It’s often possible to recover deleted files from a drive. Simply deleting old photos and files off your hard drive just isn’t enough! Matt Ham, owner of the service company Computer Repair Doctor, explains, “You’re likely to forget things like passwords saved in browsers and personal data in the deleted items folder.

Click Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Time for a new computer? Before you give away your old laptop, make sure you do a deep clean - the RIGHT way. Windows 10 makes it easy to reinstall your operating system.

How to wipe your computer