As the title suggests I would like to know how to wipe an old laptop before selling it. Simply want to remove any sensitive or private information that exist so a buyer cannot act maliciously.
How do I go about doing so? Any videos/tutorials you recommend on this process?
For any specifics it is an HP laptop running Windows 10.
Please feel free to ask any other questions and I am greatly appreciative of any help.
Depends on the laptop and type of drive. Spinning disk drives can be “wiped” with DBAN or similar programs although you don’t see these much on modern laptops. Windows can be reinstalled afterwards using the same activation key as used previously. (Even better, hopefully it’s stored in the BIOS/UEFI) SSDs can be cheaply replaced and the old drive can be physically burned. If it’s eMMC storage I would just burn the whole laptop and cut my losses. Everyone has a different risk tolerance level though so that plays a factor too. Also, it would depend on how difficult it is to access the drive, if you can do it yourself, and how much profit there is involved by selling it after potentialy buying a replacement and/or paying to have the drive swapped out. Tons of variables here. Hope you find the answer you’re looking for OP.