Are you thinking about getting rid of your old computer, donating it or Giving it away? Well if you are, you should read this first. Used computers are an easy target for identity theft. It's very important that you understand the steps you need to take to in order to protect yourself and your identity.
Whenever you sell your PC or give it away, you should always erase all your personal & confidential information. But it's not that simple.
The next few steps I have put together are to help protect your personal information and shut the door on any potential identity theft risk.
I have to admit that one of the only fail-safe way to completely prevent Identity theft when selling or giving away your PC is to yank out the hard drive first then let a truck pass over it a few times. (LOL)
To be extra safe you may take it to a crushing machine. But that's a bit extreme especially if you want to sell it or give away to someone.
Replacing your old PC or Laptop
One of the reasons many people are replacing their PC's at a faster pace now is because today's PC games, internet activity and everything else demands a faster, more powerful machine.
But there are always others out there who can still use your old computer. These people or organizations don't require the speed or need that you do. Nevertheless, it is imperative that your personal information stays with you and does not go with the PC.
The following steps are a way to help you decide what to do with your old PC and how to go about it.
Here are a Few tips on how to prevent ID theft when you sell, recycle or give away your old computer.
Step 1. You can remove the hard drive or drives. This step, while is quick and easy to do, is also very drastic. If you choose this option then of course you still going to have the data-packed drive left. Besides, opening up your PC has risks. You can easily damage other parts as well as your self.
If after all, you do choose this route, you can still erase the drive later on by connecting it to another computer with a special USB cable.
Step 2. Erase part or all of the drive and leave it in your PC. This sounds relatively easy but there's a catch. (actually two)
A) if you erase the drive, by reformatting it or deleting folders individually along with files, this doesn't actually delete the data. This will only remove file names from the drive's master index and the files themselves can still be easily read using any file recovery software.
B) You can't reformat your main hard drive (it's usually located in the "C" drive on a PC) while it's in use helping to run your computer.
You will probably need special software specifically for this so that it will completely destroy all files, overwriting with zeroes several times. There are two links further on down if so choose this method.
Mac users should use the built-in Disk Utility. Perform a secure erase of all free drive space.
NOTE* if you're erasing your main drive, as mentioned above, you'll need to boot (launch) your computer from a specially prepared CD since you'll be wiping out your operating system (e.g., Windows).
Choosing the right step for you
Step 3. Erase only the data and personal information. If you do this, you will leave your operating system and other programs intact for the next user.
Again, I recommend using a dedicated file deletion program to completely nuke & destroy your personal data (this after you copy or back it up for your new machine, of course!) folder by folder.
NOTE* Many programs you might leave in your old PC (especially Internet browsers) can retain personal information, like passwords or details of sites you visited.
You should be able to either uninstall these separately or delete personal information from them.
Step 4. Removing other media. Make sure that you DO NOT leave a disk in the computer's CD/DVD drive. Or a Compact Flash or Secure Digital card or memory stick in the reader, or floppy or Zip disk as well.
I once sold a laptop to a friend and I went ahead and erased all my personal data using a program called Evidence Nuker. But inside the disk drive.... I had a CD with all my personal passwords I had just saved there to swap to my new Laptop. Luckily for me my friend noticed it and gave it back to me. To show my gratitude I gave him back a $100.00 Bux and said "have dinner on me!
Thanks for reading my article and have a great day!
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