New laptop? How to wipe your old Windows PC clean before getting rid of it

If you're ready to replace your old PC and hand it down to a friend or family member, you'll need to wipe your data and reset it. Follow these instructions to make sure you do it the right way.

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Are you starting the new year with a new PC? What are you going to do with the computer it's replacing?

You might be planning to hand down the old device to a family member or reassign it to another employee in your small business. Perhaps you'll donate it to a local charity, put it up for sale, or take advantage of an offer to trade in the old device.

Before you do any of those things, your top three priorities should be migrating your apps and files to your new device, expunging your ...