Before selling your computer there are a whole series of steps to take to improve the security of our personal information
Nowadays, changing your computer is becoming more and more common. To have a new model in design, or one that performs better according to the work we do, but also with a new innovative function. But what to do with old PCs? Simple, we can sell them. But first there are some operations to do to secure our data.
Before selling a PC it is necessary to erase all our traces from the device. In this way, whoever will buy the computer will not find our files, our photos or our favorite music tracks. Before deleting every document we have to make a backup of our files, saving them for example on an external memory. If we have an active cloud service, it could be a very convenient solution to use to get back, in a few clicks, all our files even on the new PC we are going to buy.
Disable every account
Deleting every file we have to logout and delete our accounts saved on the computer. For example if we use Chrome we enter the browser and log out of our Google account. The same applies if we use programs like iTunes or Microsoft Office
Format the hard disk
To avoid leaving even the slightest trace of our passage we must format the hard disk before selling it. It is true that this is a time-consuming operation but it will be essential to protect our privacy.
Reinstall the operating system
Once you have formatted the hard disk on the computer there will be nothing, not even an operating system. And before selling a computer it is advisable to reinstall an operating platform. If we have the old operating system CD just insert it into the computer and follow the wizard to complete the installation of the operating system. Once we reach the user creation phase we skip this step. If we want to show the PC working we can always create a dummy profile.
Clean your computer
The computer needs to be cleaned inside, in the hard disk, but also outside. Selling a device with the speakers and fans full of dust or with a dirty keyboard could cause us a problem with the buyer. Better to clean everything and sell the computer as if it were new.