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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,170
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

Went to visit my daughter and her young sons this week. I want to leave them my laptop which will give them an extra one. Hers is old, running Vista, mine is Windows 7 and a newer more updated model. Hers is a HP, mine an Asus.

Question: I have lots of my stuff on it. Most of my websites have passwords as in QVC or Facebook, etc. Nothing really over the top but I really don't want to leave it intact just in case down the road it gets into wrong hands.

How can I wipe it... or atleast take important things off of it. I asked a friend who apparently would rather charge me big bucks than retain our friendship. Long story but I am a bit upset. I pride myself as a person who helps others and sometimes it is not a two way street.

What can I do. Can I purchase a program. ARE THERE ANY FREEBIES ONLINE.

Super Contributor
Posts: 288
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

You need to delete whatever you don't want them to have ... including bookmarks.

Then download ccleaner from filehippo dot com.

Here are directions http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/wiping-free-disk-space

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,442
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

Ccleaner will wipe the free space on the hard drive. Delete and uninstall what you want gone, open Ccleaner, go to tools then wipe drive. Select wipe free space and let it run. Be sure to remove all saved passwords in the browsers you use.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 597
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

Before you delete or run any cleaner you should download everything to an external hard drive to save it. Especally if you have pictures or documents stored on it because otherwise they will be lost forever. External hard drives can be found at the major electronic/stationary stores and even QVC has the ones that you can back up your info so you can reload it to another computer, I just do not recall the name right now.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,295
Registered: ‎08-03-2013

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

On 4/15/2014 Scorpio1971 said: Before you delete or run any cleaner you should download everything to an external hard drive to save it. Especally if you have pictures or documents stored on it because otherwise they will be lost forever. External hard drives can be found at the major electronic/stationary stores and even QVC has the ones that you can back up your info so you can reload it to another computer, I just do not recall the name right now.

Clickfree.

~~~"Patience is the power to do nothing when doing something won't do anything but make everything worse"~~~
Super Contributor
Posts: 465
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

you can reset your computer to factory settings. turn computer off, restart, press f8 while restarting.

Follow the directions on the screen.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,442
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

On 4/15/2014 Wadzlla said:

you can reset your computer to factory settings. turn computer off, restart, press f8 while restarting.

Follow the directions on the screen.

Be advised, if you do that, you need to reinstall all of the Windows updates and all programs you want on the computer. This doesn't wipe the drive and what isn't over written can still be seen with a recovery program like Recuva.

If I sell or donate a computer, I wipe the drive first, I use WipeDrive, then reinstall everything. It takes time but is worth it to me. Since most computers comes with a recovery partition, it's easy to put it to factory condition but as I posted, what isn't over written can still be accessed.

Pressing F8 isn't the key for all computers. My HP used F11. Check the manufacturer's web site for your computer.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,419
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

On 4/15/2014 glb613 said:
On 4/15/2014 Wadzlla said:

you can reset your computer to factory settings. turn computer off, restart, press f8 while restarting.

Follow the directions on the screen.

Be advised, if you do that, you need to reinstall all of the Windows updates and all programs you want on the computer. This doesn't wipe the drive and what isn't over written can still be seen with a recovery program like Recuva.

If I sell or donate a computer, I wipe the drive first, I use WipeDrive, then reinstall everything. It takes time but is worth it to me. Since most computers comes with a recovery partition, it's easy to put it to factory condition but as I posted, what isn't over written can still be accessed.

Pressing F8 isn't the key for all computers. My HP used F11. Check the manufacturer's web site for your computer.

When I recycle a computer I set the computer back to an out of the box condition twice. I then install the Window updates, and free antivirus software etc.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 667
Registered: ‎12-04-2011

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

Glb613--You stated that you use WipeDrive to clear data from your hard drive. In your opinion, would this be better to use than Ccleaner or Laplink's Safe Erase, or are they all equally reliable? Thanks for any advice on this. I have a new desktop coming and would like an easier way of wiping info from my HD than smashing it with a sledge hammer.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,442
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Help with removing information on laptop SO I CAN GIVE IT TO MY GRANDSONS

On 4/16/2014 qualityshopper said:

Glb613--You stated that you use WipeDrive to clear data from your hard drive. In your opinion, would this be better to use than Ccleaner or Laplink's Safe Erase, or are they all equally reliable? Thanks for any advice on this. I have a new desktop coming and would like an easier way of wiping info from my HD than smashing it with a sledge hammer.

I like WipeDrive. You can set it to overwrite the hard drive once or up to 7 times making it completely unreadable. If you plan on reusing the hard drive after using WipeDrive, you need the installation disks to reinstall everything including the operating system. The recovery partition is gone using the program.

If I was giving a computer to someone I REALLY trusted and didn't have the installations disks to put it back to factory condition, I'd use CCleaner to wipe the free space. I'd also get into the user accounts, create a new administrator account, delete my account and change the ownership.

You can also do a factory recovery using the recovery partition but be advised, it only formats the drive and the data is still there to be found if not overwritten. Wiping the drive or free space does overwrite the data. Formatting only removes the "tag" needed so the operating system can find the data. There are a lot of programs that can find the data on a formatted drive.

Never smash a hard drive with a hammer. If you remove a hard drive, get an external enclosure and make an external hard drive to use for a backup.