Are you thinking about getting a new computer? If so, whether you are planning to sell, donate or recycle your old one, you will need to start thinking about how to ensure all personal and private data is removed first. Read on to learn more.

Delete doesn’t Delete!

When you delete information from your computer, be aware that it isn’t really gone! The computer just tells you it’s gone and then allows you to reuse the space where it is stored. It's important to note that at this point, no data has been erased or overwritten. If you do not overwrite this space, then the data is still there. This means that even after a file has been deleted, it can still be retrieved.

Identity Theft

There is a lot of talk about identity theft in the media these days. This is probably because there are millions of cases of identity theft every year and victims can be from all around the globe.  The majority of thefts occur using the following methods :-

• by gathering credit card or personal details on the internet
• offline by accessing credit card or personal details details from unwary victims
• by getting access to personal information stored on second hand computers.

Because of this, it is important that when you say goodbye to your old computer, you delete all files through a secure deletion program. 

Confidential Data

Another thing to remember, is that if your computer stores personal or confidential data such as names and address of your customers, customers credit card details or even more specific data such as customer medical or financial details, then you may be legally or at least morally obliged to take data deletion very seriously.

How to Delete without a trace

• Some people use the easy option and format their hard drive but remember, formatting does NOT remove all data.
• To be completely sure, you could physically destroy the hard drive by smashing it to pieces or drilling holes through it. That’s the fun but costly option!
• Another safe option is to overwrite all of the data with a utility called a disk sanitiser or a data shredder. These work by overwriting existing data with random 1s and 0s. A popular free one is Eraser.
• And finally, there are applications available that are designed to remove all files including temporary files and history files. An example of some of these products are
• Ccleaner  - *Free*
• Darik's Boot and Nuke  - *Free*
• Secure Clean
• Privacy Fence
• PC Pitstop Erase