There are essentially two methods of cleaning: manual cleaning and wiping the drive. However, you still should clean drives before removing and storing them. You just need to worry about the drive(s). You can essentially remove the hard drive(s), dump the remaining system, and you’re okay. Remember, the thing that stores all your documents, files, and other data is the hard drive. They can use a live CD for recovery or put the drive into another system. These can even be recovered if Windows won’t boot. You might have email messages stored on the computer containing login credentials or other sensitive communication, website passwords cached by your Web browser, and passwords stored for other services and applications. In fact, emptying the Recycle Bin or even reformatting your disk is not enough. Your digital trail is much longer than that. If you think you can just delete your sensitive documents and consider your system safe to abandon, you’ve got another “think” coming.

You never know who will get their hands on your old computers. To be completely safe, you should do this even if you plan on keeping them around in your garage or a closet. Before you sell or get rid of your computers-whether working or not-you should clean them of sensitive documents and data.

How to wipe pc