How can i completely wipe my computer

It's downloadable as an ISO image but you will need to extract it onto a bootable USB or disc in order to use it as a boot device. Once this USB flash drive is inserted in the laptop you want to wipe, restart the machine and then boot from this drive from the BIOS screen. From here you simply follow the prompts and wait for the machine to work through the reset process, which will securely delete everything. It's much easier to wipe a hard drive in Windows 8 or 8. Finally, choose Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows.

When you choose to erase data, make sure you click on the "thoroughly" option rather than "quickly", just to be sure that everything is deleted. You're able to wipe the hard drive and installing a fresh copy of the OS on Windows 10 thanks to its built-in method. In order to restore Windows 10 back to a pristine state, you will have to follow the set of instructions that can be found in the applicable selection you just clicked on. In this case, choose the Remove Everything option to, surprisingly, get rid of everything.

If you have more than one drive on your laptop, you will be asked if you want files removed from all drives, and as a safety option, this is the best method. Lastly, you will be asked if you want to clean the drives. This will take a few hours but will make sure that there are no files recoverable from the disk. Wiping a Mac has broadly similar principles but is, in fact, a lot easier to do, no matter what version of macOS you're running - from Mountain Lion to Mojave.

A system disk isn't required, but for earlier Macs you will need one. Select the FireVault tab. Click Turn on FileVault. Wipe and reset your computer. This is your last chance to retrieve any files, so check one more time before you proceed.

Click the Recovery tab, then Get Started. Select Remove everything. For a Mac, you need to boot your computer into a special menu:. Turn on your computer or restart it. Immediately press and hold the Command and R keys on the keyboard until the Apple logo appears. Once it does, release the keys. Your Mac will boot into a special recovery menu. Select the Disk Utility option from the menu.

Choose your storage drive and then click the Erase button. Click Security Options. Google enables encryption in ChromeOS by default, and the reset process is straightforward:. Open Settings. Type Powerwash into the search bar. A solid state drive is essentially a larger and more sophisticated version of a flash drive. Information is stored on microchips and contains no moving platters. This kind of drive also doesn't have magnetic coatings like a hard drive disc.

Rather, solid state drives have an embedded processor, its "brain," and interconnected memory chips that retain data. To destroy a solid state drive, you can't use a degausser, because there's no magnetic storage.

Instead, you should physically destroy the device with something like the SSMD-2MM Solid State Media Disintegrator , which is something professional data destruction companies should have. It essentially shreds up your hard drive until it's in no way recoverable. Type in "dfrgui" and then press Enter. Otherwise, you can take the computer apart to check. If you don't routinely work on this hardware, though, you're better off checking out your hardware through the software menus.

After you've wiped your drive and smashed your computer, you must find a specialty recycling company that will take the parts. In other words, don't put glass shards, aluminum, and plastic from the device into your recycling bin. Sure, the trash person may pick it up, but it's just going to end up in a landfill because general recycling facilities don't have the capability to reuse these parts. Below are just a few places you can send your devices if they're intact and you've only done a software wipe.

Some places will give you cash for the computer, and other places will do the destroying for you. CyberCrunch : This company specializes in data destruction, so if you've done a factory reset on your laptop, but you haven't bothered to destroy or at least take out your hard drive, CyberCrunch will handle that for you. In fact, it's part of the company's recycling process. Rates aren't disclosed on the website, so you'll have to call.

Simply mail in your device and it will be securely recycled. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only apps that came with your PC will be reinstalled. Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows , tap or click Get started.

Note: You'll be asked to choose whether you want to erase data quickly or thoroughly. If you choose to erase data quickly, some data might be recoverable using special software. If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely. If you think an app or driver that you recently installed caused problems with your PC, you can restore Windows back to an earlier point in time, called a restore point.

Windows automatically creates a restore point when you install desktop apps and new Windows updates, if the last restore point is older than 7 days. You can also create a restore point manually at any time.

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search. Enter Control Panel in the search box, and tap or click Control Panel.

Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box, and then tap or click Recovery. If you need additional help refreshing, resetting, or restoring your PC, check out the Repair and Recovery community pages in the Windows forum for solutions that other people have found for problems they've experienced.