How to make a laptop safe before discarding?

[havasu]

I recently purchased a little back up laptop computer to replace the old laptop which had the screen go dead. I would like to recycle the old computer, but afraid that someone will steal any information found on it.

Nick, could you please explain what to remove in order to make it safe?

 

[DarisMulkin]

Screen dead-hook a monitor to it.

Daris

 

[havasu]

Yeah, I thought of that, but it is just a hunk of junk with Windows Vista, and not worth keeping. I was able to replace it with a nice Win 7 with lots of memory from Costco for $350.

It is for the GF when she is away from home and wants to stay connected.

 

[Floorist]

You could always just download anything you want to keep to a flashdrive and use a hammer on the hard drive.

 

[highup]

You could always just download anything you want to keep to a flashdrive and use a hammer on the hard drive.

Drills are fun too.

 

[havasu]

After flipping the laptop over, I opened a set of screws where I saw two memory cards. I disconnected them, but believe I still need to pull the hard drive, but really don't know what it looks like. Once I remove it, I'll have no problem using it for target practice.

 

[Dan]

If target practice were an option, you could use the whole thing!

There are more and more companies these days that will grind your hard drive for you. Just like a grinder that makes mulch.

 

[Nick]

There is a program that chews up all your data on the drive . It is free .
Give me a few to find the link.

If you can get the drive out , throwing it in the microwave will do the trick to .

There is nothing on your memory chips .

 

[Darol Wester]

Here's a couple that I found, though it's odd that they don't have any info support for them.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Security-Related/DP-WIPER.shtml


http://www.dban.org/

 

[Nick]

Here is a couple i use . D Ban is a good one .

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...ng&txt=http://www.killdisk....ownloadfree.htm


http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...- Smartest Computing&txt=http://www.dban.org/