Do This Before Selling Your Computer!

Simple Steps to Retaining Your Privacy When Selling a PC

Learn about some of the simple steps to keeping your information out of the hand of buyers, when selling your old computer and laptop.

Episode #12-42 released on July 1, 2022

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Every once in a while, we have a fully functioning computer we would like to sell, unfortunately, this means that we risk having personal information leaking as the drives in the computer would certainly contain files that can be still recoverable. Is there anything we can do about that?

The first solution to an issue of data security, is to remove the drives in the computer. This is a useful trick for most laptops and desktops. This does mean another drive has to be installed in the computer for it to work, and Windows has to be reinstalled, but none of your data is at risk.

The second solution is to use a program like DBAN, which writes over the entire drive over and over to eliminate all data. By writing over all the data sectors in every drive type, you are removing all the data entirely. However, this does not work for SSDs. Now, that being said, it is said the WipeDrive works well on SSDs by using firmware and logic to eliminate drive leveling that would give away data history in an SSD.

The third option is to begin with whole drive encryption in the first place. Provided you do not use a weak key, it would be relatively impossible to determine the contents of the drive that was encrypted prior to encryption. While, not ideal, it is currently the simplest method of assuring data security.

Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net

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