Question Need help and advice on getting rid of files before returning PC

[divadoll]

I bought an HP Windows 11 i5 laptop which was awful. The slowest PC I even had although this was for hubby and I always have a gaming PC so I am spoiled. So I recently purchased another PC - an HP i7 Envy laptop with more RAM and with an SSD and HDD drive which is doing fine. Now I need to return the slower other HP to Costco. I do have files on it and backed them up on an external hard drive. I wanted to know how to deter the files permanently from the PC that is being returned. I see there is a difference with a reset and a factory reset. Also I read that there is a bug in Windows 11 that doesn't permanently erase your stuff.

Also should I delete and empty my recycle bin before I do anything. How do I get the One Drive off there as well since that has access to my files too?

Is there a free program or can this be done through Windows 11?

 

[USAFRet]

Full wipe and reinstall of the OS.

This is for WIn 10, but the concept is the same:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Create a Win 11 USB to install with.
https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

Boot from that, and DELETE all existing partitions in the process. (outlined in the first link)

 

[Lafong]

Now I need to return the slower other HP to Costco.

Do you know to what extent Costco will examine it when you present it for return?

You can easily put a new install of Windows on it.

That wouldn't include HP-included software goodies....but maybe Costco wouldn't care about that.

I've often wondered about the finer points of Costco's return policies on PCs, but have zero experience.

 

[Eximo]

Most OS don't delete files, they just forget them. The data is still there. If you want to check your system for existing files that haven't yet been overwritten and deal with them:

Eraser

Download Eraser for free. A security tool to remove sensitive data from your Windows hard drive. Eraser is a secure data removal tool for Windows. It completely removes sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

sourceforge.net

I would say start with a factory reset, then run Eraser to check for any remnants of your stuff, and maybe factory reset one more time to get rid of the user account. To be really thorough.



If you want to secure erase a drive to be absolutely sure. This will completely blank the drive in question though, so no factory reset or default OS install.

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Download Darik's Boot and Nuke for free. A hard drive disk wipe and data clearing utility. Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot image that securely wipes hard disk drives (HDDs). DBAN is appropriate for personal use, bulk data destruction, or emergency data destruction for...

sourceforge.net

 

[johnbl]

create a second local admin account
login as the second admin and delete the profile of your first account from your computer.

to create a local admin account you would start cmd.exe as an admin then run
net user newadmin newpassword /add
net localgroup administrators newaddmin /add

now you can log out your current account and log in to
newadmin with password=newpassword

and go and delete the old user account from the local machine.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Dariks boot and nuke would do it but you won’t have all the hp stock stuff. I think ccleaner has an option to securely erase free space. You might try that then use the windows built in reset option.

 

[The Paladin]

hold shift while selecting reboot goto settings and set windows to restore original HP install (they all have a copy on a d: hidden drive" to restoring window on laptops.