Over the years many of us accumulate old computers, tablets and other electronic devices that may be gathering dust but which also contain our personal information.
But before you get rid of any old electronics, you’ll want to make sure they're wiped clean of your personal data to prevent identity theft.
Don’t sell them, recycle them or donate them to charity, until they are wiped clean to make sure they won't cause you problems in the future.
According to Consumer Reports there are a few simple but important steps you need to take and Nicholas De Leon, a tech expert with Consumer Reports, said deleting files and logging out is not enough.
“Anything that might be stored in what's called ‘locally’ on the device such as photos, videos, any sort of personal documents may still be on there, if the only thing you’ve done is log out of different accounts,” De Leon said.
To back things up, use an external hard drive or cloud-based service, then search online for specific factory reset directions for your device.
It can be done on laptops, tablets, smartphones, wearable tech and more. Even after a factory reset, a very determined hacker could still access your old files and although that’s unlikely, you have other options that are more permanent, though it could decrease the value of your tech.
“Say you’re selling a laptop on eBay or something like that, you could just physically remove the hard drive so that when you sell it or give it to someone else your data that was on the computer is no longer there because the hard drive is no longer there,” said De Leon.
More extreme measures include destroying the hard drive by smashing it with a hammer or drilling through it, then recycling, the device itself.
Some other devices that also need a factory reset include TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices like Roku.
“These all have your data on there so you want to make sure to get rid of it before passing it onto the next person,” De Leon said.
Taking the right steps can make sure your old tech, doesn't create new identity theft problems.
It's also important to remove any external storage in your devices such as memory cards. For smart phones and tablets with a sim card, you'll want to remove it.
If you don't have the tool that came with your device you can use a paper clip instead.
