Do These 7 Things Before Selling or Giving Away Your Windows PC
1 min read
Summary
Before selling your Windows PC you need to ensure your data is secure and the transition to the new owner goes smoothly.
Back up your data so that nothing important is lost and create a full system image to be sure.
Use the File History tool for specific data and the Windows backup app for cloud backups, or use alternative services such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
Ensure that all your data has synced before you delete anything and unlink any licenses or subscriptions that are hardware bound so you don’t lose access or cause issues for the new owner.
Properly wipe data and overwrite storage drives to make it unrecoverable, using Windows built-in features or third-party software such as Disk Wipe, PartedMagic, CrystalDiskMark and OCCT for hardware testing.
Update Windows and drivers and check for any hardware health issues to maintain good performance.
Create a system specs sheet to advertise your PC’s specifications and physically clean the device.
Also consider resetting BIOS settings to factory settings if you have made any changes.
