Privacy & Security Education 
Identity Thieves Find Treasure In Your Trash
After serving you well for three to five years, your old computer earns a well-deserved retirement. You transfer all your old files to your new computer, delete them from the hard drive, and pack the old computer off to the trash heap, sell it, or give it away.
Sounds innocent enough until you stop to consider that you may have just given away your social security number, all your passwords, your credit card numbers, bank statements, financial records, and every other bit of sensitive data you ever maintained on that computer.
With computers getting cheaper by the day, many folks now find themselves replacing old machines with newer, faster models. But understand one thing: just hitting the delete button to get rid of sensitive files basically rates the same as putting a bank statement in your trash can without shredding it - anybody can reach in and pull it out.
In fact, with inexpensive over-the-counter data recovery software (the kind you can buy to recover files you delete accidentally), virtually anybody can fire up your old hard drive and start pulling off data even though you "deleted" it.
This creates a veritable field day for identity thieves who comb through junk yards for old computers and attend computer shows buying up used hard drives by the dozens. Whether selling it, giving it away, or tossing it on the junk heap, when it's time to replace your computer with a newer model, you basically have three options for permanently wiping out your data.
Many computers come with recovery disks that will completely format the hard drive and return it to its original "factory-fresh" state. Using this approach makes a great option when you plan to give away or sell the computer.
Use a software program designed to erase your hard drive, or at least totally destroy your deleted files. claims to completely erase your deleted files without affecting Windows or your other programs. In keeping with the times, the third option requires a disclaimer. <smile> Only attempt this with safety glasses, a flak jacket, and under close professional, adult supervision. Unplug your computer and let it cool off. Take off the cover and remove the hard drive. Bash the hard drive with a hammer until it looks like a pancake!
That should render it completely resistant to any would-be identity thief armed with even the latest data recovery software. Physical destruction of the hard drive rates about as secure as you can get in protecting your deleted files from But before you take drastic action on the computer, remember that your "trash" may just represent a dream come true for someone who can't afford a new one. Try to find a child, a student, or a struggling parent who could really use your old computer and would consider it a real blessing. Finding the right new home for it could well change someone
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist several best-selling e-books, information products and software programs. Jim also publishes the *World-Famous*
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