Wiping all personal info before donating pc

[DPoTato1988]

Every answer just says system reset then remove everything. After I did this all my email and passwords were still saved, as well as desktop shortcuts and my wallpaper. What else does remove everything not remove and how do I actually remove everything.

[Malnutrition]

Formatting the machine would be the best option.

Click here for instructions.

[Bastet]

Does the PC have a recovery partition? You can clean install Windows with this by setting the PC back to factory default or even clean install Windows which would remove everything including the factory installed version of Windows.
When you reach the setup screens are you entering your MS account details or are these automatically entered? If you’re entering these then your information is being recovered from Microsoft. When setting up the PC for sale you can forgo entering any account details & turn the PC off. When the new user turns it on it’ll start from this screen & they’ll be able to enter their account details.

[georgeks]

Sorry but those actions will not securely remove user data.

Go here and download Active@KillDisk.
Create a bootable USB and start the system from it.
Erase (not Wipe) all HDDs -except the USB.

We use the Pro version at work.

Still I think that you have selected the wrong option if you can see “all my email and passwords were still saved, as well as desktop shortcuts and my wallpaper”.

[Pyro]

To add another option, the truest way to secure any personal data would be to remove the drive entirely before donating and then destroy it.

Some people can work magic on drives, if you’re only passing the machine on to a family friend it is not as big of an issue.

The options listed above should work as well, just depends on how thorough you choose to be.

[Bruce]

to expand on the above, my preferred option is to remove the current drive and replace it with a new one.
that has 2 benefits - the old unit can be used as a backup device for yourself and the next owner of the PC gets a new drive which is a good selling point.

if the current driver is a HDD, this is a good opportunity to upgrade to a SSD, plus it’s the only guaranteed way to have no personal info left behind.
and throw in a clean reinstall of Windows on the new drive and the next owner sees all that as added benefits without too much cost or effort on your behalf.

[Rustys]

abandoned thread