What The Fuss Is All About

giddygirlie asked: I need advice from a Guy Who Knows Stuff. My old Dell (tower) PC has been sitting in the garage for... forever. I want to take it to be recycled and I know where my local spot is. BUT before I do: anything that I should deliberately damage or remove first? I don't *think* that there was anything too personal on there, but who knows if there is a cached browser history with my bank account info or something?

Yep - pull out the hard drive(s). Either take it to a data destruction service or to your local firing range. The key is to either completely magnetically wipe the platters with a degausser, or to physically disrupt the platters so they can’t be pieced back together. It may seem like a bit much, but a bored kid with Google and your old hard drive can cause a lot of problems for you.

28 September 2011 ·