| Blog Home
How to Get Top Cash for Laptop Online and Be Safe?
Are you still thinking of selling your old laptop? Good idea! You definitely want to get top cash for laptop online! Then make sure that you do not leave any personal information on it. This article will help you to make sure your personal information does not fall into the wrong hands.
Don't just throw your laptop in the trash!
So, if you have a stack of old laptop computers in a closet somewhere, you could probably start a "history of computers". But if you want to keep everything to order, you have a couple of variants to manage your new problem. Don’t just throw it away!
Your old laptop contains various components that are not good for the environment. When you are ready to trash your old laptop, check with your local sanitation department for rules and regulations regarding the disposal of electronics. Sometimes a disposal fee is required, but there are many free options out there too. Also, there are various recycling programs for old computers available through your local companies, but before you take in your old dinosaur of a computer to be recycled, there are other more interesting variants to get TOP cash for laptop online!
Selling laptop to a family member
Let’s clean it! Where to start?
- Delete all icons, files and folders from your desktop.
- Delete all files and folders from My Documents.
- Delete all pictures, images and other files from My Pictures.
- Delete all videos from My Videos.
- Delete all items in your Favourites folder.
- Go to your internet browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc.) and delete your browsing history, delete cookies and form data (usernames, phone numbers, stored passwords etc.).
- Go to your wireless connections and delete your home and office connections. You don’t want the buyer using your internet connection, even if the buyer is your cousin.
- Now empty the recycle bin. Your computer is fairly safe to sell.
Selling it to a friend
This method creates a new “administrator” user so that you can delete all the other users which in turn should delete files, folders and history. This process is not fast, but not difficult. So, let’s start!
- Log into an existing “Administrator” user. From the “Control Panel” select “User Accounts”.
- Pick “Manage Another User” and create a new user. Just give a generic username such as “Owner”, “User” or the make of the computer brand such as “HP”, “Dell”, “Toshiba”, “Acer” etc.
- Pick the user type as “Administrator”.
- Log out or restart the computer.
- Log in as the new user that you have created.
- Pick “Manage Another User”
- Pick in turn each of the other users.
- Delete the user, when asked if you would like to “keep files” select “No”. This should delete all files associated to the user.
- When only your new user is left go to the “Start” button and click “My Computer”
- If your computer is running Windows XP then go to “Documents and Settings”. You will now see a list of users, hopefully just your new user. If there are other users then select each in turn and press the “DEL” button on your keyboard.
- If your computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7 then select the “C:” drive, select the folder “Users”. You will now see a list of users, hopefully just your new user. If there are other users then select each in turn and press the “DEL” button on your keyboard.
- Finally, empty the recycle bin. Your computer is safer than the majority of computers sold and your personal information is in safe.
Selling it to someone face-to-face
Looking for fast money, you may try to sell old laptop face-to-face. Most modern computers have the ability to restore back to factory settings. Make sure you select the options that
- Format the hard drive.
- Removes all user data.
- Restores the computer to new, not to a previous point in time.
- Don’t use the computer again!
Selling privately or through a website such as eBay
This is the most popular way to get TOP money for old laptop, but…This method wipes the entire hard drive and reinstall the operating system. It is different from Method 3 as it allows you to delete the partition information from the hard drive. However you do need a Windows Installation disk to do this.
Start the computer up from the Windows Installation disk. Do not start the computer up normally and then put the Installation Disk in as this does not delete enough information.
- Follow the prompts for an “Advanced Installation” or “Advanced Options”
- Delete all disk partitions.
- Let the installation create a new partition and format the hard drive.
- Continue the installation till the end.
- Once the installation is complete then shut down the computer and do not use again, not even to check on your Facebook account!
Sell to anyone!
This method is exactly the same as the previous one, but you use a new hard drive and keep the old one. The benefits of this method are that no information on the hard drive is yours and never has been and that you get to keep your old drive with all your information on it. You never know what information is on your old computer that you may need in the future. Just get an external USB hard drive caddy/carrier/enclosure, plug the old hard drive into it and then plug it into the USB port of your new computer and you can access everything on the old hard drive.
Does it seem to be difficult to you? If you are worried about selling your laptop computer and are not confident enough to take the measures above then take it to a reputable computer expert company. They can save your personal information for you and clean your computer properly before you sell it. Make sure they understand that you want the disk partition delete and if you go for Method 5 then make sure the expert hands you back your old hard drive.
DATE: 10-01-2018