It is easy to wipe your computer clean, whether you plan to sell or give it away or you need to fix a problem after everything else has failed. This allows you to free up all of the space on your hard drive and restore your computer to its original state. What you need to know, though, is the operating system-specific wiping method.
Among all the operating systems out there, Windows 10 is one of the most popular. It comes with lots of convenient features that users love. But how to wipe a Windows 10 computer before selling?
We will discuss the answer to this question in this article. We will also discuss other complementary steps that you will need to take before wiping the PC. Keep reading to learn more.
Why You Should Wipe Your Windows Computer Before Selling
Your future plans should dictate the method you use to erase all data from your computer. If you intend to keep it, wiping the hard drive clean and reinstalling Windows from scratch should do the trick.
However, if you want to sell or give the computer away, you should take some extra steps. The purpose is to guarantee that the new owner can not access the data that is on it.
Installing a new operating system will completely wipe out your hard disk drive (HDD). However, almost all computers sold in the last few years have solid-state drives (SSD). To make sure your old data can not be recovered even after you delete it, you should encrypt the SSD.
Transfer All Needed Data First
Before going for the wipe, the most important thing to do is safeguard all of your precious data. You can do it using an external hard drive, a flash drive, or via cloud platforms like Google Drive. Here, we will look into the first two options, as they give you a broader scope for storing your files.
Step 1: Create a Backup
The first thing to do is to back up files from your internal storage. Here’s what to do:
- Make a list of everything you want to back up. Consider the following folders within your user account:
- Desktop
- Documents
- Downloads
- Music
- Pictures
- Videos
- Drag and copy these folders to an external hard drive or a USB flash drive.
- Remember that the same folders are also inside the Public user account, so check there too.
Step 2: Back Up Microsoft Edge Favorites
After backing up the personal data, you need to look at the browser on your Windows PC. As Microsoft Edge comes with Windows by default, you would want to store data from this browser first. You can easily sync your Microsoft account to get back browser data on another device. However, if you don’t want to use this method, then follow these steps:
- Launch Microsoft Edge.
- Select the Favorites tab next to the Split screen tab.
- Click on the three dots.
- Scroll down to Export favorites.
- Click Export to File to save your favorites to an external drive.
Step 3: Additional Considerations
Settings on your Windows 10 PC cannot be moved. So you’ll need to redo them on your next PC. If you use an installed email program like Microsoft Outlook, export your message store. Besides, think about other places where you might have stored personal files.
Step 4: Hidden Files and Folders
Sometimes, Windows hides much of our precious app data in unknown directories. So, follow the process below to find that data:
- Click on the taskbar to open File Explorer.
- Choose View > Options.
- Click on the View tab, and then click on Show hidden files, folders, and drives in the Advanced settings. Finish by clicking OK.
- Within your User folder, there’s a hidden directory called AppData. It stores important settings for apps (e.g., custom dictionaries for Microsoft Word, Chrome passwords, and Outlook data files). Copy this directory to your backup drive.
How to Encrypt Your SSD on Windows 10
Now that you have transferred all that you need to a safe location, it’s time for the encryption phase. If you have a hard disk drive (HDD), you can skip this step.
To encrypt your Windows 10 PC, no additional software is required. You can use the built-in encryption tool.
On Windows, you have the option to use BitLocker or Device Encryption to secure your solid-state drive. However, these features are not available on every SSD. Try this to see if it works for you:
- Choose Settings from the context menu that appears when you right-click the Start button.
- After that, go to System, and then hit About.
- If you see “Device Encryption,” click it and then follow the on-screen instructions to protect your SSD.
- If your PC does not have Device Encryption, you might be able to use BitLocker instead, but this will depend on the version of Windows 10 you have. On Windows 10, go to Related Settings and click on BitLocker settings. Then, follow the on-screen instructions to turn it on. If the link directs you to buy Windows Pro from the Microsoft Store, you will not have access to BitLocker until you make the payment.
How to Wipe a Windows 10 Computer Before Selling
Once the encryption is done, you can use Windows’ built-in tools to wipe your computer clean and return it to the way it was when it was first made. Here are the steps:
- Right-click the Start button and pick Settings from the menu that comes up.
- Press on Update & Security.
- Go to Recovery.
- Click Get Started in the Reset This PC section of the Recovery page.
- Click Remove Everything on the Choose an Option page.
- If you follow the rest of the instructions, Windows will factory reset your PC to its original settings.
Conclusion
While erasing data from your computer, you need to decide on future plans first. If you will be keeping the PC, wipe the hard drive and install Windows afresh. However, for selling or giving away the PC, extra steps are needed to stop others from accessing data. Encryption is such a step. SSDs require encryption to ensure data deletion; HDDs don’t.
Before the encryption, you’ll need to consider safeguarding the data by backing it up externally. After successfully backing up everything required, you can encrypt SSD using BitLocker or Device Encryption if available. As a final step for the wipe, you will need to use built-in Windows tools to wipe the computer clean before selling.
If you follow the process we discussed above, your PC will be internally ready to sell. The next step is to choose a reliable platform for the sale. This is where SellMyPCPart can be your go-to option. Our procedure is straightforward, and the quotes are from real people. Here, you can sell all of your PC parts at a good price. Check out our site today.