Virginia wants to know how to clean a computer before getting rid of it
How to clean a computer before getting rid of it. Know you have addressed this before but cannot locate it.
Our answer
Hi Virginia. If your getting ready to sell or give away a computer there’s two things you need to do:
1. Get rid of everything on your hard drive by wiping it with DBAN
2. Reinstall the operating system
You can get Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) from this link. Here is Darik’s description:
“Darik’s Boot and Nuke (“DBAN”) is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware.”
A word of caution. DBAN will totally obliterate everything on your hard drive and overwrite it with gibberish so nothing can be recovered from it even using forensic software. So make sure you’ve saved whatever you want to save before you use it.
If you’re selling or giving away your old computer – it would be nice if you reinstalled Windows before you give it away or sell it. It won’t be of much use to anyone without an operating system on it — unless the person you’re selling it to or giving it to knows it won’t have an operating system.
Hi Guys!! I have loved your informative website for many years. The recent article on cleaning your hard drive before you sell your machine I actually had before and lost it, of course! I attempted to print out this most recent reply from you but it only comes out black!??! Is there a trick to getting a hard copy from the above??? Helppp!! Ron
Ron, try using your Snipping Tool to copy what you need; save it on your computer and then print it out if you need a hard copy. I put my Snipping Tool on my “Start” Menu so that I can retrieve it anytime I want to save something.
I really must be stupid! What is a snipping tool? I usually just copy and paste, but if that isn’t working here, that won’t do me much good.
Snipping Tool is an application included in Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. It was originally released as a powertoy for the Tablet PC launch on November 7, 2002. The program is a screen-capture tool that allows taking screenshots (called snips) of an open window, rectangular areas, a free-form area, or the entire screen. Snips can then be annotated using a mouse or a tablet, saved as an image file (PNG, GIF, or JPEG file) or an MHTML file, or e-mailed.
Hi Ron!
I use the snipping tool a lot, too. Especially for some of those webpages with lots of images or for things that I can’t get to look right when I print them. I don’t often print things out though, because it would cost me a fortune with all the stuff I save, so here’s what I mostly do;
I copy and paste whatever I need from a webpage into an email (using Thunderbird) I give it a title and then I simply save it to my drafts folder. From there, I can then either just move it over into a mail folder called “Tips and Tweaks”, or else I save the email as an eml file, via “View -> Save As -> File” in Thunderbird and then just put it into a suitable folder somewhere on my hard drive. Either way, when I need to read it, I just find it, click on it and Thunderbird will open it and voila! Both versions of “note-taking” are searchable and backup-able, too. (Via Mozbackup for the “email notes” or using Karen’s Replicator for backing up stuff (such as the saved emls) to an external hard drive.) Never ever lose notes or important tips again! LOL
I hope either little workaround helps you! 🙂
Just copy the text and paste into MS Word, WordPad or NotePad. Then you can edit and print. I also use the snipping tool, but you still have to paste into another program (such as above) to print. At least it works for me every time.