PC help: Private PC repairs

Q My computer needs to be sent away for repair, but I am worried that all my personal letters and spreadsheets with financial information could be read by others during this time. Is there any way to avoid this?
John Tooth

A The most important thing to remember about sending a computer away for repair is that the hard drive may be wiped as part of the repair process. It is essential that all your personal files and downloaded programs are backed up before sending it away. This is good practice anyway, but now is the time if you haven’t done so already.

This backup can be as simple as copying the Documents and Settings folder to an external hard disk or you could use an online service such as Carbonite.

If Windows has been damaged so badly that it will not start, it should be possible to use a rescue disc to access the files and copy them off the computer.

Now the files are safe but still potentially accessible. Both Windows XP Media Center Edition and Professional can scramble files so they can only be read when decoded with a password, which is called encryption. Left-click on the Start button, then right-click on My Documents. Left-click on the General Tab and then on the Advanced button. Click in the box marked ‘Encrypt contents to secure data’ and then on the OK button twice. Select the option ‘Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files’ and then click on OK. Windows uses the password used to log in to Windows, so you will not have to keep entering a password to open your own files. Make sure you do not lose the password, as without it the files will be inaccessible.

The alternative to encryption is to delete the files once they have been backed up. Move them to the Recycle Bin, right-click on the Recycle Bin and select Empty Recycle Bin. Once the files have been deleted, you should also make sure that all traces of the old files are removed. This can be done with software such as Eraser.

This software overwrites the fragments left behind when files are deleted so that they cannot be recovered. Depending on the amount of disk space that needs to be cleaned, this can take some time, during which the computer should be left alone. One important warning is that once files have been deleted in this way, they cannot be recovered. Make sure the files have been backed up, and that the backup is error-free before even starting to use Eraser.

You should be careful to read the job settings in Eraser to make sure it is only deleting the correct files. See our Workshop for more help on using Eraser.

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