We have all been there at one time or another. You have an old computer but are worried about just tossing it out because there might be something on the hard drive that you don’t want anyone to see or use against you. So what can you do?
One way we used to take care of this issue is to open the computer and take out the hard drive. You can store it in your house or business. We have found in business that the old hard drives really start to pile up and never used again. Your next step could be to take a drill and run it through the drive several times. Then it is safe to toss it out with the trash.
I found a better way to wipe the hard drive and leave it in the computer. This is nice if you are donating the machines. The new user of the computer can always install a FREE operating system like Linux and can have a working computer for their needs.
Step up to Active Kill Disk. There is a FREE version that will write 1’s and 0’s across the drive and remove all of your data. Just follow their web site on how to make a flash drive to boot your computer to and clean the drive. I did four computers the other day and it took me about two hours. But just start them and walk away. There is no need to watch the magic happen. Once the program is done you can save a certificate to the flash drive that the drive has been wiped.