Selling your old computer? Here’s how to prepare it for sale
Posted by: Timothy Tibbetts on 03/10/2015 07:24 AM [ Comments ]
If you recently purchased a new computer and want to sell your old one often times making sure you remove all traces of your personal information is a concern.
1: Back up your important files
First, back up any files you want to save. Get a thumb drive, external drive, DVD or set up a cloud based backup and save all of your pictures, documents, videos and music. Of course, you should be doing this regularly anyway but it’s been our experience that people don’t back up as often as they should, if ever.
2: Do a factory restore
The best way to do this is to restore your computer to its original state. It's fast. It's automated. It's going to save you hours. Most computers now have a hidden partition with the original operating system known as a recovery partition. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Backup and Restore and see if it’s an option there. If it’s not then you need to reboot and press the correct keys before the Windows splash screen to get to the manufacturers recovery software. Often times this is one of the F (function keys) at the top of your keyboard. Usually it is the F11 or F12 key but it could be something else unusual like the 0 key. Your best bet is to Google for “Manufacturer factory restore key” replacing the word manufacturer with whoever built your computer (Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.)
Once you have rebooted you will see an option to do a factory restore and be warned that everything will be deleted. The computer will then overwrite the entire drive and restore your computer to its factory settings and reboot.
3: Optionally wipe free space for security
For security you can now wipe free space making any data that could possibly be recovered unrecoverable. If you have ever tried to recover data you know this is hit or miss and gets worse over time so the odds that anything worthwhile could be recovered, or that whoever bought your computer will even try, is pretty slim but for the few minutes it takes it is worth the extra effort. Download CCleaner and go to the options and check the options shown in the picture below. Three passes is more than enough. Run the cleaner and you’re done.
If you don’t have a backup partition or copy of Windows
In this case you want to follow steps 1 and 3 above but first you also want to consider if you need to remove programs from your computer. You might have programs that you paid for and often times if you try to activate a second copy it won’t work. All it takes is a couple programs that you paid for and the money you just got for selling that old computer is lost. In my opinion, there’s no need to tinker any more than needed risking potential problems so just download IObit Uninstaller and select “Batch uninstall”. Then check everything you want to remove and when finished do a powerful scan. Now you can follow steps 1 and 3 above.
If you don’t have a Windows DVD you might want to make an image so the new owner has a way to restore it themselves later. If it’s a friend or family member, you’ll thank me later. The free programs limit your choices but I would recommend HDClone Free Edition.
Now everybody should be happy!
First, back up any files you want to save. Get a thumb drive, external drive, DVD or set up a cloud based backup and save all of your pictures, documents, videos and music. Of course, you should be doing this regularly anyway but it’s been our experience that people don’t back up as often as they should, if ever.
2: Do a factory restore
The best way to do this is to restore your computer to its original state. It's fast. It's automated. It's going to save you hours. Most computers now have a hidden partition with the original operating system known as a recovery partition. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Backup and Restore and see if it’s an option there. If it’s not then you need to reboot and press the correct keys before the Windows splash screen to get to the manufacturers recovery software. Often times this is one of the F (function keys) at the top of your keyboard. Usually it is the F11 or F12 key but it could be something else unusual like the 0 key. Your best bet is to Google for “Manufacturer factory restore key” replacing the word manufacturer with whoever built your computer (Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.)
Once you have rebooted you will see an option to do a factory restore and be warned that everything will be deleted. The computer will then overwrite the entire drive and restore your computer to its factory settings and reboot.
3: Optionally wipe free space for security
For security you can now wipe free space making any data that could possibly be recovered unrecoverable. If you have ever tried to recover data you know this is hit or miss and gets worse over time so the odds that anything worthwhile could be recovered, or that whoever bought your computer will even try, is pretty slim but for the few minutes it takes it is worth the extra effort. Download CCleaner and go to the options and check the options shown in the picture below. Three passes is more than enough. Run the cleaner and you’re done.
If you don’t have a backup partition or copy of Windows
In this case you want to follow steps 1 and 3 above but first you also want to consider if you need to remove programs from your computer. You might have programs that you paid for and often times if you try to activate a second copy it won’t work. All it takes is a couple programs that you paid for and the money you just got for selling that old computer is lost. In my opinion, there’s no need to tinker any more than needed risking potential problems so just download IObit Uninstaller and select “Batch uninstall”. Then check everything you want to remove and when finished do a powerful scan. Now you can follow steps 1 and 3 above.
If you don’t have a Windows DVD you might want to make an image so the new owner has a way to restore it themselves later. If it’s a friend or family member, you’ll thank me later. The free programs limit your choices but I would recommend HDClone Free Edition.
Now everybody should be happy!
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