March 7, 2012

Wipe your data without removing Windows

QUESTION

Hi, Kim. A friend is giving me one of his computers to replace my current one. We want to erase all of his files, folders and personal information without erasing Windows. Please help.
-Sherman of Columbus, GA, listens to my national radio show on WSB Atlanta 750 AM/95.5 FM.

ANSWER

Thanks for the question, Sherman, and for tuning in to the show. It's nice of your friend to give you his computer. And I'm glad you're protecting his personal information.

But just deleting files using the Recycling Bin isn't good enough. Deleted files aren't actually gone; they're just hidden waiting to be overwritten. Hackers or computer repair technicians can recover that data.

To permanently destroy data, wipe the hard drive with a program like Darik's Boot And Nuke, then reinstall Windows. DBAN not only wipes the hard drive, it overwrites it several times with random information so nothing is recoverable.

But that won't work if you want to keep Windows. You'll have to delete and uninstall as much as you can manually. It's more work, and there's always the possibility you could miss something. Still, sometimes it's necessary.

Read on for a rundown of how to securely delete everything from a PC except the operating system. >>

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