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I am turning in an old Windows 7 computer that I used to use to my employer. I would like to wipe the computer clean of all user files and data. How do I do this?

I only have one account on the computer and that's the administrator account. When I go to Control Panel > User Accounts I see my administrator account, but there's no option for deleting it, or wiping the files and deleting the data.

I'm assuming there's some built-in mechanism for deleting an account or wiping the data clean. I assume that I don't have to manually delete all the files myself, which would be laborious and probably leave some files or cache data behind.

What's the best way to do this?

ktm5124
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    Windows 7 does not have a built-in function to reinstall itself (unlike Windows 8.x and Windows 10). This means you will have to reinstall Windows 7, after you delete all partitions on the disk, this will delete all your data. If you are worried about data recovery, then you would have to take the appropriate steps to properly delete the data, before you reinstalled Windows 7. – Ramhound Apr 24 '19 at 15:08
  • @Ramhound I don't have the CD to reinstall Windows 7. So I guess that's not an option? Are you saying the best strategy is just to manually delete the files myself? If so... what's a good way to do this? – ktm5124 Apr 24 '19 at 15:12
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    You can [download](https://superuser.com/questions/78761/where-can-i-download-windows-7-legally-from-microsoft/1046062#1046062) one for free. [Windows ISO Downloader](https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool?showall=&limitstart=) also exists – Ramhound Apr 24 '19 at 15:14

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