Selling your PC

Before selling your PC you should erase all personal files.

Simply deleting items or reformatting your hard drive is not enough, as this does not always physically remove the files from your machines but rather marks them as 'deleted'. Files and folders can still be restored and accessed even if you think they have been deleted.

You can 'wipe' your computer's memory by using a product that meets US drive-cleaning standards (DoD 5220.22-M). There are plenty of such products available online, including:

• CyberScrub's cyberCide (~$36)
• DBAN: Darik's Boot and Nuke (free)
• Eraser (free)
• WhiteCanyon's WipeDrive (~$40)
• ... and there is also a list of free erasure software on Snapfiles

(Trade Me does not endorse any specific software.)

Bear in mind that when you are wiping your hard drive you will be permanently deleting all files, so make sure anything you want to keep from your old computer has been copied elsewhere!