Preparing an old computer…

Chances are, if you recently got a new computer, you probably have an old one sitting around gathering dust. These computers, while seemingly old and slow, are perfect for community centers, the kids’ playroom, or people whose sole use for a computer is checking email. Unfortunately, over the couple of years you owned your computer, quite a bit of personal information can get built up on it. Login names, saved passwords, bank records, personal emails, and other confidential stuff could be gleaned from an old hard drive even after being erased long, long ago.

One of my Facebook fans (aka my cousin) asked me this very question over on my Digitante Facebook page:

“Quick question for you, we have a desk top that is about 7 years old and I’m going to upgrade to a laptop as Tim already has his own. The desk top still works but it’s pretty slow. How would I go about clearing all the sensitive information off of it so I could pass it along to someone who might need one.”

We’ll learn how to get this computer ready for its new owner and protect your information at the same time.

Nuke the hard drive

The first step is to download and burn to CD a program called Darik’s Boot And Nuke, also called DBAN. DBAN is dead simple to use: burn it to a CD (using previously mentioned ImgBurn), put it in the CD drive, reboot your computer, and follow the prompts. It will write a bunch of random data over the previous personal data and then erase everything. While a true professional spy looking for the missile launch codes might be able to recover something, most beginning, intermediate, and even most professionals will not be able to recover anything.

Load up an operating system

You may have the old Windows XP recovery disk that came with your system, however, I would recommend you add something even more lightweight giving your computer an even better lease on life. I would suggest downloading Xubuntu. Xubuntu is a version of the Linux operating system Ubuntu that I have talked about before. Xubuntu uses even less RAM and hard drive space than Ubuntu and is ideal for use on systems that are older than about 5 years.

After downloading the image, once again you can use ImgBurn to burn a CD used to install Xubuntu.

It comes with a pre-installed word precessor, spreadsheet program, web browser, and email program. The additional benefit of installing this OS is that you will format the hard drive as part of the install which will provide additional protection from people finding your sensitive information.

Brand new computer

At this point, you might struggle give this computer away since it will be as lively as a young pup and will be checking email like a champ. However, there are lots of people out there who have yet to get their first computer and would have a great appreciation for this seemingly old piece of technology.

If you want some help getting rid of the old computer in your life, you can feel free to head over to the About page and either email or call The Digitante. I’d be happy to put your mind at ease and rid your old computer of any sensitive information that might still be hanging around.