When an SSD, hard drive, or old notebook is sold, people usually delete their personal files beforehand. However, many users do not realize that the hard drive often still contains information that is of great interest to curious people or criminals, for example: The browser history can allow conclusions to be drawn about surfing behavior and bank details. Stored email traffic reveals details of business transactions and provides information on subscribed streaming services and times when no one is at home. FTP tools such as Filezilla offer to save access data so that the user does not have to enter it again and again, thus opening up access to FTP servers of companies and organizations. Browsers open the way to accounts and services of all kinds via their password managers. Complete erasure of the hard drive is needed Windows and applications hide your personal data in numerous places in the file system and in databases such as the registry, where it is almost impossible to find. It is therefore advisable to completely erase the drive before you hand it over. How you proceed depends on the type of storage medium. In the private sector, practically every computer today contains an SSD. The drives are many times faster than hard disks and they are robust. With SSDs, it is very difficult and often even impossible to recover deleted files. This is easier with mechanical hard drives, but they are almost only found in NAS devices and in company storage systems, where high capacities and lower acquisition costs are more important than speed. USB sticks and external hard drives, on the other hand, obey completely different rules to internal models. Let’s start with the internal SSDs first. Be sure to back up your data before deleting storage data! Further reading: The best Windows backup software and the best external drives Deleting data partitions on a solid state drive Right-click on a partition to easily format or completely delete data using Windows Disk Management.Foundry The first step is to delete the data partition(s), if present, i.e. drive D:, E:, F: and the like. This can be easily done by formatting with the disk management: Right-click on the Start icon in the taskbar, go to “Disk Management.” Alternatively, you can also use diskmgmt in the search field of the taskbar. Right-click on the partition you want to delete and go to “Format.” In the following dialog window, delete the tick in front of “Perform quick format” — this will actually remove the files from the drive and not just their entries in the Master File Table (MFT). Then start the process by clicking “OK.” Deleting the system partition with a boot CD or stick Deleting the system partition, i.e. the C: drive, is a little more complicated. As Windows is installed on this drive and cannot delete itself, you need a bootable installation medium from which to carry out the deletion process. If you have a Windows DVD, use it to boot your computer. If you do not have a DVD, you will need a bootable USB stick for the process. Microsoft provides the Media Creation Tool on its website, which you can use to pack the Windows installation files onto a stick. Foundry The easiest way to create such a stick is with the Media Creation Tool, which is available free of charge from Microsoft. After you have agreed to the license terms, click on “Next,” and specify under “Select medium to be used” that you would like to create a USB stick. A stick with a capacity of at least 8GB is required. Insert the stick and click on “Update drives” if necessary. After clicking on “Next,” the Media Creation Tool deletes the existing files on the stick and populates it with the Windows installation files. The finished stick is bootable. Start your computer with it and click on “Next > Install now” when the country settings appear. Click on “I don’t have a product key” and select one of the Windows versions offered. Tick the box next to the license agreement, click “Next,” and select “Custom: Install Windows only.” Then select the system drive — you can recognize it by the name you have given the partition — and click on “Delete.” You can then cancel the installation by closing the window. The SSD is now completely empty, drive C: no longer exists and is listed as unallocated storage space. With an SSD, it is also virtually impossible to restore the data previously saved there. This is primarily due to the Trim function (see next section). Making SSDs and hard disks unusable If you’d rather not pass along an SSD or hard drive to another person, you can simply destroy both mechanically. This will ensure that no-one can read the data contained on them. First remove the drive from the computer. This also works with most notebooks. They have a cover secured with a screw on the underside, behind which you will find the SSD. Normally, the data carrier is only plugged in. To make the hard drive or SSD unreadable, either take a drill and drill a hole in it vertically. Or you can hammer a strong nail through the housing. Caution: Risk of injury! One hole is enough to damage the drive to such an extent that it is practically impossible to recover the data. Secure deletion thanks to the Trim command The Trim command ensures that SSDs are written to evenly, thus extending the service life of the drive. The command is now supported by practically all SSD drives for the SATA interface. It has been included in Windows since version 7 and is active by default. Normally, you do not need to do anything else, the Trim function runs automatically in the background. If you delete data from an SSD, Trim informs the drive that these storage areas are no longer being used. The next time the computer switches to idle mode, the drive’s Active Garbage Collection ensures that all areas marked by Trim as no longer valid are released for deletion. Permanently remove data from hard drives The situation is somewhat different with hard drives. They do not have a Trim command, so the data can still be recovered after deletion and even after formatting with some effort. Here too, however, there are ways and means of making the data permanently unreadable. For data partitions, you can use tools such as Ascomp Secure Eraser. This will not only delete the files the drive contains, but also overwrite it with random data. With Secure Eraser, click on “Securely erase hard drive/partition” on the start screen, select the drive in the following window, and click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the “Start erasure process” button. This opens a drop-down menu in which several methods for overwriting with data are available. A single overwrite is sufficient to make the files unreadable, so select the “Low” or “Normal” setting. Then click on “Start deletion” to begin the deletion process. You can use the Secure Eraser tool from Ascomp to reformat data drives and overwrite them with random data.ASCOMP You have to proceed differently with a system partition. As Windows cannot delete itself, you need a live system with which you can boot your computer from a CD/DVD or USB stick. You can then delete the data on C: from there. In contrast to an SSD, it is necessary to overwrite the deleted memory areas with new data afterwards so that the original content can no longer be reconstructed. The freeware Darik’s Boot and Nuke, DBAN for short, has proven itself for this purpose. First download the ISO file. Then connect a USB stick to your PC. It does not need to be large; the tool only requires around 16MB of space. Download and install the Rufus freeware and enter the DBAN ISO file in the “Startup type” field. Then let Rufus create a bootable USB stick and start your PC from this drive. With Darik’s Boot and Nuke you can boot your PC from a USB stick and then securely delete and overwrite the existing drives. IDG Darik’s Boot and Nuke is based on a stripped-down Linux system without a graphical user interface. After starting, you can use the command autonuke to automatically delete and overwrite all data on your hard drive. Alternatively, you can select the desired options by pressing the Enter key. Further reading: How to extend the life of hard drives Securely erase USB drives Although USB sticks and hard drives are closely related to SSDs, they do not support the Trim command. You should therefore also format the stored files after deleting them. The aforementioned Ascomp Secure Eraser software can only erase and overwrite hard drives and SSDs. The freeware Disk Wipe is suitable for USB drives. Open the program, select the drive, and click on “Wipe Disk.” In the first window, the wizard will ask you for the desired file system. Normally NTFS is the best choice. After clicking on “Next,” select how the data should be overwritten. Here, “One Pass Zeros” or “One Pass Random” is sufficient. In both settings, Disk Wipe performs an overwrite process for the data. Click on “Next,” type erase all in the input field, click on “Finish,” and confirm the erasure process. The program will then first format the drive and then start overwriting the individual memory cells. Further reading: Turn your flash drive into a portable PC survival kit with these apps Deleting data on NAS devices NAS devices contain several hard disks or SSDs, which they format with a Linux file system. For secure deletion processes, you should therefore use the commands of the NAS operating system. Both Synology and Qnap devices are capable of securely deleting data. With Synology, open the “Storage Manager” in the main menu and select “HDD/SSD.” Select the drive you want to edit and click on “Action > Secure Erase.” You will probably need to remove the drive from the storage pool first. For a Qnap model, open the Control Panel and then go to “System -> Backup/Restore > Reset to factory settings.” Then click on “Restore factory settings & format all volumes.” Alternatively, you can also remove the hard drives/SSDs from the NAS enclosures, install them in your Windows PC, format them with NTFS, and then overwrite them as shown in the article. Read...

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With a modern platform like Squarespace, there’s no need for web developers or specialized technical knowledge – you can easily build a website on your own, whether you’re a business or an individual looking to boost your online presence. Designing a website takes no more than a day. Filling it with content is also a snap. Thanks to built-in AI and SEO tools, you can streamline the process without any prior knowledge. Here’s everything you need to create a beautiful, responsive and conversion-friendly website – in as little as a weekend. Building a website in four easy steps Step 1: Choose a template that suits your style Starting with a ready-made template saves you time and energy, and gets you to the fun part – customizing the site to your liking. Squarespace offers a variety of professional templates that are both stylish and responsive. You simply choose a template that matches your style and needs, whether you’re looking to build a CV page, blog, e-commerce or informational page. Step 2: Customize your design and content – without coding Once you’ve chosen a template, it’s time to put your own stamp on the website. You can adjust colors, add images and write text directly in Squarespace’s editing tools, all without having to touch a single line of code. The tools are easy to use and allow you to create a professional-looking site that feels unique and personalized, even if you’re not a web developer or designer. Get a 10% discount Try Squarespace and get a discounted price by using the code PCW10 Get started with 10% off Step 3: Add features to grow online Want to start a blog, sell products or share contact information? With Squarespace, you can add features that suit your purposes. There are built-in tools to manage e-commerce, create blog posts, collect email addresses, and much more. This way, you can use your website as a hub for your business or project, without involving external tools. Step 4: Get help when you need it – without hiring a developer Need a little help on the go? Squarespace’s customer support and help resources make it easy to get answers to questions, no matter the time of day. There’s also a community where you can get tips and ideas from other users. With support readily available, you can focus on creating and developing your site without having to get outside help. Already have a website? Here’s how to maximize it! If you already have a website, Squarespace has several tools to improve and optimize it for even better results: Invest in SEO: Use Squarespace’s in-built SEO tools to make sure your page is visible in search results and reaches the right audience. Adjust titles, meta descriptions and alt texts to help visitors find you. Upgrade the design: Switch to a newer template, or update the layout, to give visitors a modern and fresh experience. Deepen your content: By adding blog sections, guides or a newsletter, you can engage and retain your visitors in a whole new way. Analyse and optimize: Use Squarespace’s built-in analytics tools to understand how visitors interact with your site. By seeing what’s working and what can be improved, you can make adjustments that benefit your business. Charge for content: Are you a business or individual looking to hide content behind a paywall? Maybe you have deep knowledge in some area and want to be able to charge to teach others. It’s easily done at Squarespace! With their built-in tools, you’ll be up and running in no time. Ready to create your website – or take the next step? Whether you’re starting from scratch or want to take your current site to new heights, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful and effective website all on your own. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than taking the first step – why not this weekend? Get a 10% discount Try Squarespace and get a discounted price by using the code PCW10 Get started with 10% off Read...

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Microsoft wants to be done with Windows 10 and have everyone move to Windows 11. It’s given the nine-year-old operating system an official expiration date next year, and it’s not shy about leaving those users behind. But its latest attempt to spur them on is its most brazen yet: full-page ads telling you to just go buy a Copilot+ laptop. This isn’t Microsoft’s first alert to users that Windows 10 is being retired, and it’s not even the first time it has resorted to full-screen alerts to drive the message home. But the newest flavor of the, ahem, helpful message is much more blatant about being an advertisement. It isn’t telling users to upgrade their current operating system, which would be a legitimate and fairly easy option for any machine sold in the last three years or so. It’s something that similar alerts offered earlier this year. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Rather, this new alert spotted by The Verge is just a full-on advertisement for a brand-new laptop. Specifically, Microsoft’s own Surface Laptop line, though it’s merely pictured instead of named. “Want the ultimate Windows 11 experience?” asks the message. “Level up to the new Copilot+ PCs — the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever.” The message reminds you that Windows 10 will no longer be supported after October 2025. There are ways around that, but they’re expensive and temporary. Microsoft seems increasingly insistent — or possibly desperate — to get users off the older operating system. While Microsoft tells users that they’re running out of time, you might say the same for the company itself. Less than a year away from its ultimatum, just under 61 percent of Windows machines are still running Windows 10 while Windows 11 only makes up about 35 percent. The numbers are shifting — six months ago, Windows 10 was almost 70 percent of the Windows market — but it’s a slow drift. Let’s compare that to the same figures for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, respectively, a year before Windows 8.1 was retired for Windows 10. According to Statcounter, at the same point in January 2017, Windows 8.1 was just 9.65 percent of the market while Windows 10 was 32.84 percent. There’s an X factor here in Windows 7, which was still running on an astonishing 47.46 percent of machines. It would take another year for Windows 10 to overtake it. Microsoft has had a tumultuous time with the last few major releases of Windows, even while it maintains its dominance of the desktop and laptop market. In brief, people hated Windows Vista, loved Windows 7, hated Windows 8, tolerated the less-radical Windows 8.1, and loved the more conventional and powerful Windows 10 again. I wouldn’t say that people hate Windows 11, but it’s definitely gotten a much colder reception than its predecessor due to some major interface shifts and a lot more in-your-face advertising and promotion. The forced integration of Copilot AI features is also turning off a lot of power users. Microsoft probably feels comfortable trying to strong-arm users off its older OS — it’s no stranger to doing that, after all. But 2024 is a very different time than 2017. A lot of users (possibly even the majority?) now interact with their phones more than their primary PCs, and both Macs and Chromebooks are more competitive. Microsoft still has a stranglehold on the business market, but general consumers have a lot more options in a lot more form factors. I wonder if trying to nag people off of an OS they like and onto one they don’t is the wisest move. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Rock-solid stability A lovely mix of display ports Superb front-mounted charging options A nice mix of USB-A ports Good performance Cons Way, way overpriced at MSRP Dock gets finicky when connecting to more than two displays Our Verdict If price is no object, Anker’s 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt dock is one of the best docks you can buy. I love all of its features…just not its price tag. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Anker 778 Thunderbolt Docking Station (12-in-1, Thunderbolt 4) Retailer Price $299.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Anker’s 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 laptop docking station is superb, with a solid feature set minus a couple of puzzling omissions. It’s simply overpriced. Our sister site, TechAdvisor, has previously reviewed the Anker 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 docking station. Now it’s moved to the front of my testing queue, too, where I can take a fresh look. As the name suggests, this dock is similar to the Anker 777, a $299 Thunderbolt 4 dock that I was less impressed with. On paper, the 778 is about as flexible a dock as you might like. With a dedicated Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) upstream port, DisplayPort as well as HDMI, chances are that you can connect to an external display or two without the need for an adapter. In fact, if you use the Thunderbolt port as well as two of the other ports, Anker says you’ll be able to connect up to three 4K displays. Four displays is also possible, though with limitations. Even though Thunderbolt 5 should be a 2024-2025 product, the lack of virtually any laptops or docking stations that support the technology makes Thunderbolt 3 and 4 still viable. (One customer on Amazon complained that this dock didn’t work with her Thunderbolt 3 laptop.) In fact, if you don’t really care about running a 4K display at 144Hz, as Thunderbolt 5 allows, this dock will be just fine. It’s just a pricy solution. Further reading: The best Thunderbolt docks On the front of the Anker 778 Thunderbolt 4 docking station are a pair of USB-C slots offering 30W charging.Mark Hachman / IDG There are a couple of features that I’ve always liked about Anker’s docks: The charging ports on the front of the dock are labeled — in this case, two 10Gbps USB-C ports supplying a rated 30W each. I’ve also liked the fact that Anker indicates which ports are which — USB-A ports can be tricky. I wish Anker would have labeled its two “USB 3.0” port on the back with a marker indicating its 5Gbps speed, but the other two USB-A ports at least have a “mouse and keyboard” icon over the top of them to indicate their legacy 480Mbps speeds. Anker’s 778 12-in-1 docking station is excellent, and one I’d absolutely recommend buying if the price fell within the range other docks cost. As it is, Anker charges way too much, even as good as it is. To reiterate, this dock includes two 10Gbps USB-C charging ports (30W) on the front. On the side, Anker includes a somewhat short charging cord, about 27 inches. On the rear, Anker’s dock includes a Thunderbolt 4 upstream port, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, gigabit Ethernet, and four USB-A ports (two 480Mbps, and two 5Gbps). A Kensington lock slot is tucked into the other side. The only two notable omissions? A headphone jack and SD/microSD card slots. I think the latter is of less concern, save for photographers. A headphone jack is optional, especially if you already have a laptop in front of you. But it’s a nice feature whose absence feels a bit out of place. The dock is made out of what appears to be plastic, and it will warm up a bit more than a dock made of metal. It’s rather long at about 8 inches across, and 3 inches deep and an inch high. Anker added a Kensington locking slot to the side of the Anker 778 Thunderbolt 4 docking station. The opposite side houses the Thunderbolt 4 cable.Mark Hachman / IDG Anker is one of the few dock makers that offers a downloadable utility, through which you can update the device firmware. There was an update waiting for me, which promised to clear out a few random bugs. It’s worth noting that even after updating the firmware there were a lot of on-again, off-again disconnections from my connected monitors; if this happens, simply restart your computer. The dock became absolutely stable after that. The Anker 778’s performance is mostly solid Anker allows you to connect two 4K displays at 60Hz via either the HDMI or DisplayPort ports, plus a third 4K display at 60Hz if you connect it to the Thunderbolt port. If you use all four ports (two DisplayPort, HDMI, plus Thunderbolt), Anker says you can connect four 4K displays. Only one will light up at 60Hz, however; the others will use a 30Hz refresh rate instead. You may struggle to get this dock to connect to multiple displays. As a “generic” Thunderbolt 4 dock, connecting to two 4K60 displays, this dock works perfectly well. But adding a third display required downloading the Anker software, rebooting, and fiddling with the display configurator within the Windows settings menu. I typically use a variety of laptops to test docks. In general, more modern hardware is more compatible with a modern dock like the Anker 778, and most laptops with a 12th- or 13th-gen Intel Core chip seemed to do well connecting to the dock, after I downloaded the utility software and rebooted. The rear of the Anker 778 Thunderbolt 4 docking station, with four USB-A ports, an HDMI port, two DisplayPort ports, and an upstream Thunderbolt 4 connection.Mark Hachman / IDG You may have a less satisfactory time with some of the power-sipping laptops that have shipped recently; Microsoft’s Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip only “saw” two displays. An Asus VivoBook with Intel’s Lunar Lake/Core Ultra 200-series chip would only connect to three displays, period — if I tried to connect it to three external displays, the laptop’s own display shut off. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work! With two 4K displays, this dock was absolutely solid, stability-wise. When I connected three, I felt less certain that the average user would have a good experience, especially with variations in hardware. Four seems like a bridge too far for most setups. Anker’s docks (like the Anker 568 we reviewed last year) have always performed excellently in terms of charging power, and the Anker 778 is no exception. The front charging ports, rated at 30W, still deliver 26W by my measurements, which pushes into fast-charging territory for a smartphone. Traditionally, the upstream Thunderbolt port can double as a charging port. Don’t bother with the USB-A ports, except for bus-powered devices under 5W. The dock itself is rated for 100W power delivery. I usually take a laptop and run a game to push its power draw. On one laptop, power surged to over its rated 100W, which I’ve never seen before — it touched 102W a few times. On another laptop, the power draw was rock-solid at 87W. Either way, the Anker 778 delivers the power your laptop needs, consistently. Anker’s dock doesn’t suffer in the performance category, either. The dock didn’t drop a single frame while playing back a 4K, 60Hz video. My storage tests were maybe a tad low: 126.8MBps, as opposed to the 130- to 132MBps I usually see. (For more, see how I test Thunderbolt docks at PCWorld.) That dropped to 126MBps when I streamed the video at the same time. My file-copy test completed in one minute, five seconds — again, quite normal. Should you buy the Anker 778? I would absolutely buy this docking station. But I would absolutely not spend what Amazon, Anker, and other retailers are asking for it. Too many of our best Thunderbolt docks hover at or around $250, and this goes way above that. Ironically, many vendors on eBay have adopted that price point (or lower) in selling the 778. If you don’t mind buying through eBay, go for it. Otherwise, I’d opt for the Anker 568 instead. The lack of an SD card slot and headphone jack isn’t a dealbreaker. I’m surprised, however, that Anker hasn’t lowered the overall price to attract more business. This is a premium dock of premium quality, but at an ultra-premium price that you might not be willing to pay. Read...

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