how to guard against spies in a computer repair shop

ezwin10 said:

Assume you need to send your computer to a repair shop. (Manufacturer's warranty service, or other, away from your home). How can you ascertain your private information can not be read?
1) copy USERs folder to your external hard disk, then delete source.
2) Extract browser history, cookies (browser passwords), URLs and move these to hard disk. Delete source.
3) If you do a search with words you use often you might find some duplicates of your information. Now this is tedious and unreliable.
4) Some applications store data inside the application folder without you ever know about.
5) Here follows what other TENFORUM members suggest...........................................PLEASE.
A) MS forces use of registration (email), there is a chance repair shop can open email, hotmail, out look, just by using logon data.

Hopefully this will become an item in the TENFORUMs library to download.

If I was worried about "spies in a computer repair shop", I would... make a full OS image backup, and save that backup to an external hard drive or even an internal hard drive.

Then I would remove all drives except the OS drive.
Then I would overwrite the OS drive with zeroes, and delete everything in OneDrive if you use it.
Then do a clean install of Windows on the OS drive.

I don't think you could do any more to protect your privacy.

I usually on the purchase of a new computer, remove the original hard drive/SSD and replace it with my own choice, that way i pay less for a small hard drive and if I need to send it in I remove my Hard Drive/SSD and put the original back in and send it off.
Short of that as mention above Make a full image to external drive. Format and and go as far as you think you need to to fully clean your hard drive install a clean Windows and send it away. Kind of hard to do if your Computer is in failure. That's why i just keep the original SSD/HD don't need it often but when you do you do.

If you only having problems with Windows or software there is noting you can do except figure out the solution yourself.

I agree with with all the suggestions offered But... If you are having issues with your system, Just login to TenForums and state your problem. There are many knowledgeable people that can diagnose your issue and help you fix it yourself! Making you more knowledgeable yourself. It's a win win situation. I used to be a repair tech so I know the industry. Bottom line! Do it yourself and we are here to help.

Did I Just Make A Commercial???

FYI -

HDD's are basically easy, while SSD's are a bit more tricky due to their storage methodology and finite cell count.

This is a useful article, so be sure to do it the right way -

https://www.micron.com/-/media/clien...rase.pdf?la=en

Ensure that your "nuking" program or method is designed for SSD Sanitizing.

HTH

ezwin10 said:

A) MS forces use of registration (email), there is a chance repair shop can open email, hotmail, out look, just by using logon data.

MS don't force the use of an email login - they just make it very difficult to avoid using one when first setting up a PC.

If you have been forced into a Microsoft account, you can always switch it to a local account that doesn't use your email address.

Switch to Local Account in Windows 10

+1 for Ghot’s suggestion.
Image the drive using Macrium then clean install Windows using a local account.

Take the drive(s) out and send it to the repair shop. If they need to, they can throw in a drive with an OS on it for troubleshooting. Or, find a local person you can trust. Or, learn to do it yourself.