what is the safest way to clean my PC to sell?
I have a Dell PC and I am selling it. However I don’t want the new owner to have all my information and programs. What is the best way to wipe it clean?
Related Items
- Is there truely an effective way to get your ex-girlfriend back?
With all the books and information on the internet, is there truely an effective way someone can get there ex-girlfriend back? Only true answers, ple... - Is there any difference if i clean my car inside with furniture polish?
We are getting a new car and we have all the "good intentions" of looking after it properly, you know, the way you do with anything new. So we are tal... - How does American health insurance work? Can anyone recommend somewhere to find more information?
I am interested in the differences between healthcare in the UK and US. I am looking at all aspects from visiting your local doctor, getting and payi... - How do you sell a car to be junked or for salvage?
I've been trying to find one, but don't know how to do it. For the last few months I've been trying to junk my old car (no longer runs) for scrap. So... - What’s the safest way to install an internet security software if u wanna change to another brand?
I have an unexpired internet security software already installed and want to install a different brand than the active one.What's the best way to inst... - How do I clean the magnetic strip on my credit card without damaging the data?
Is there a specific and safe way to clean a grubby credit card without the risk of wiping the information off it? Any suggestions would be much appre... - what types of information do credit card companies sell to marketers?
If the data is not sold by credit card firms themselves, then by whom and, typically, for how much? ... - what is the best way to sell my crafts?
I make tapestries such as birth and wedding samplers and ordinary ones, scarfs and cards. What is the best way people have found to sell them. On eb... - How can I sell off my office furniture for the best price?
I'm closing my mortgage office in Oceanside, NY. All my furniture is only 6 months old and of very high quality. I want to recoup as much as I can g... - Do you have information on the Fat Burning Furnace weight loss program? Is it good?
I need to know if I'm not being fooled before I buy it? ... - Who can give me information about the history of the Chinese New Year?
It's for a school project and I need as much historical information about the Chinese New Year as possible! ... - What the best way to sell small furniture in Portland Oregon without transportation?
I am moving out of the country in two weeks. And want to know the best and fast way to sell furniture here in Portland. I don't have a car for transpo... - Happy New Year! What is the best way to keep a clean record from the beginning of a new year to the end of it?
Every new year ( the beginning of a fresh year), I would tell myself that I will do everything to avoid making errors. I know that is impossible beca... - How do I get my house clean today with a newborn and toddler?
I can't get anything done. My baby is always hungry and my toddler gets into everything and is VERY busy. When I clean he makes messes faster than I c... - I need to loose weight safely. I was thinking boosting my metabolism would be safest. How do I do that quickly?
...
August 19th, 2010 at 2:51 am
Darik’s Boot and Nuke. Go download the image, burn it to a cd and boot from the cd.
http://www.dban.org/
August 19th, 2010 at 3:38 am
Insert your windows cd, and re-install it and format it. If you dont want to re-install xp, then put the drive in another computer, and format for NTFS.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:53 am
Restore it, or you could remove every program with “programs and features” and remove all person items, remove all book marks, wipe internet history, it’d be jsut easier to restore
August 19th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Ranked #1: Privacy Control
Privacy Control Review: Free to Try. $29.95 to Buy
Privacy Control is the absolute best software I have tested in completely erasing information from my computer. And from what I have been reading, I am not alone in this opinion.
Privacy Control has an easy installation, and you can do a custom setup depending on the skill level you are comfortable with.
You can actually see the deleted files that are being found during the scan, which is a very handy feature as well. It’s amazing what it can dig up.
There are 3 levels of scanning you can choose from: Quick, Safe, and Thorough. The “Thorough” scan actually surpasses military requirements for the computers they use and in the government.
A Protection guard system will save the cookies that are useful to you, if you so choose to keep them during the scan.
Privacy Control will scan more applications than any other deletion software program tested. These applications include deleting personal files in: email clients, instant messaging programs, media players, p2p, Voip, Ms file history and much more.
If you don’t want someone to find some personal information on your computer I highly recommend you download Privacy Control.
Customer support is one of the best.
Privacy Control comes with a rock-solid 100% money back guarantee.
Ranked #2: Evidence Eraser
Evidence Eraser Review: Free to Download. $29.95 to Buy
Evidence Eraser could easily be the number one product for erasing private data before Privacy Control came along, and is still a very good program. Many computer repair companies use Evidence Eraser to clear data from the hard drives to ensure privacy is protected and will charge $97 for it.
Well you can get it here for much less so don’t pay that much.
Evidence Eraser actually meets the requirements of the Department of Defense, and you KNOW they have strict standards for privacy protection.
This software is very simple to use as well and has a nice interface on the website. Evidence Eraser has a great reputation and was able to delete all the personal files that I wanted to remain private. You can choose which ones to keep and which ones to eradicate forever.
Comes with a 100% money back guarantee that is rock solid.
Ranked #3: WinClear
WinClear Review: Free to Download. $37.00 to Buy
WinClear is an up-and-coming computer eraser program that has a lot of people talking. It actually surprised me by how good it was and I had to put it in the top 4 list.
It does cost a few dollars more than the top 2 on the list but WinClear has a lot of extra frills to keep it’s customers happy and safe.
Besides shredding your files beyond recovery (guaranteed) WinClear will free up some disk space on your hard drive and can also erase your index.dat file, which cannot be deleted manually.
Your browsing history will truly be erased forever and WinClear has fast and effective customer support if you have any questions. I’m sure you will love checking out their website here.
I was also impressed by the speed of the scan WinClear ran in finding those private files to erase permanently.
There are numerous options for shredding your private data as well. You can do 1 pass for fast and simple shredding but have the risk of someone being able to recover that data, or pick DOD 5220 which will run 3 passes through the private data and shred it 3 times, making it much more difficult to recover. Or you can run the NSA shred which does 7 passes through the information to make it extremely tough for anyone, anywhere to recover anything. Finally you can select the Gutmann option which will pass over the private data 35 times! The Gutmann method was created by Pete Gutmann and Colin Plumb in 1996 and is one of the most sophisticated data eraser methods available today.
Although WinClear is ranked number 3, it can be a great option for you and can effectively do the job of eliminating your private information.
Overall an excellent pick if you want to pay an extra ten bucks to erase your private data on your harddrive.
Check out the video below showing you how Win Clear Works. It’s really great software:
Ranked # 4: Evidence Smart
Evidence Smart Review: Free to Download. $34.95 to Buy
Evidence Smart is also a new great software on the scene in deleting browsing history from your hard drive.
A free trial version of Evidence Smart is available for those who just want to try it out for a while to see if they like it or not.
Evidence Smart also comes with unlimited updates so you can stay updated on the newest trends and features of the software.
There is a very thorough list on their website that has all of the many features this program can offer as well.
The one-click operation that comes with Evidence Smart makes it great for novice computer users who just want something simple but effective to erase their data.
24 hour customer service is included as well so you can always be taken care of if you get into troubl
August 19th, 2010 at 4:24 am
you could rerun the disk,but i found out even changing the hard drive may not work,somehow info may be left in the circuit boards ,but to get to it lot of work , so first open the hard drive on the computer page ,,hand delete all programs and files that you could,,don,t open everyone or i,ll take days,,then run the disk..install new partition ,,wipe it clean ,start new,,that.s it,,the other answers ,also great..thank you
May 10th, 2012 at 1:23 am
Wow, cool post I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real hard work to make a great article… but I put things off too much and never seem to get started Thanks though