How to Wipe All Data Remotely from Windows 10 Laptop Even after Lost or Stolen

May 19, 2017 11:00 am / Posted by Ruby Johnson to Windows 10 Tips

Totally, there’re 3 ways to remote wipe Windows 10 laptop, which can be used in different circumstances.

Solution 1. Erase Windows 10 Laptop Remotely with Windows Intune

Microsoft Intune provides mobile device management, mobile application management, and PC management capabilities from the cloud. With Intune, you can do a full or selective wipe and then retire your Windows 10 laptop from the Intune group. Keep in mind that after the wipe, data will not be recoverable. If your laptop is on and connected, in about 15 minutes, data on your laptop will get wiped.

Prerequisites

• Your device has been added to Intune before it’s lost.
• You should issue a remote device wipe command from the Intune Company Portal app on privately owned devices enrolled in Intune.

Price

$6 per user for 5 devices

Solution 2. Remotely Wipe Laptop if Stolen with Third-Party App Prey

Besides Intune, some third-party apps also support to wipe and secure data in case your device is lost or stolen. One of the best rated apps is Prey. Once it’s installed and configured on your laptop, you can manage the app from your Prey account and have access to a series of features including Lock your device, Wipe data, Data recovery, Send sound alarm and Take photos with front camera.

Log into your Prey account from Android, iOS, Windows or even Linux device, and choose «Wipe data»;, you’ll get the following options.

Documents: Remove the Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Pictures, and Videos, AppData, Local, Desktop, and My Documents directories for every user.
Cookies: Remove all data related to Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Emails: Remove all data related to Outlook and Thunderbird.
Dropbox and Google Drive local files: Delete all Dropbox and Google Drive files that are on the device.

Price

Solution 3. Remote Wipe Windows 10 with QQ’s Remote Assistance

For people who want to remote wipe a Windows 10 laptop that is not by their side the simplest way would be QQ’s Remote Assistance (explained in our previous post Top 2 Ways to Enable and Use Windows Remote Control). As you set up remote connection between 2 computer using QQ’s Remote Assistance, one can operate the other computer just like sitting in front of the computer. You would have full control of the laptop over the distance, and you are free to erase any data at your will. The QQ Remote Assistance is free to anyone.

One setback: The remote connection can be set up only when both sides accept the request, which is not likely to happen when your laptop is lost or stolen.

Final Words: Turn on BitLocker to Enable Full Disk Encrypt

BitLocker has been introduced since Windows Vista. It’s a security feature that help to protect data on your Windows system. With this done, even if your laptop gets lost or stolen, no one can access data on your hard drive.

World’s 1st Windows Password Recovery Software to Reset Windows Administrator & User Password.

Windows 10 — wipe a hard drive

Original Title : help

how do I wipe the harddrive clean on a dell 5348

Replies (2) 

When you upgraded from a previous version of Windows or receive a new computer preinstalled with Windows 10, what happened is the hardware (your PC) will get a digital entitlement, where a unique signature of the computer will be stored on Microsoft Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate. You will prompted to enter a product key a couple times through the installation, click I don’t have a key and Do this later.

There is no need to know or get a new key, but if you have issues with Digital Licensing or the Activation Troubleshooter, you can utilize an existing Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key you already own to reactivate if necessary. or use the reset function in Windows 10.

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To add to Andre’s good advice :

If you have sensitive data on the hard drive you should wipe it since data can be recovered even after a format and installation. If desired you can re-install after the wipe.

CCleaner has the ability to wipe the freespace.

CCleaner — Free — download from Piriform or FileHippo (below the for fee offer).

CCleaner is our system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system — allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! — Includes Drive — Wiper (Tools — Drive Wiper) which has various levels of securiity wiping free space or the entire drive.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

You can try this or similar utilities.

PC Shredder is one free data removal and file shredder software, can permanently delete files, folders and make them irrecoverable, completely shredding the files you specify, make it impossible for anyone to restore deleted information! Prevent your business data, important documents and personal information from being recovered.

PC Shredder is Freeware. It is free for both personal and commercial use. PC Shredder works on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and Windows Vista. There is no minimum hardware requirement for PC Shredder to run properly.
http://www.pcshredder.com/

Eraser — free — an advanced security tool for Windows which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.
http://eraser.heidi.ie/

There are other tools available from Freeware to Commercial Products — BING or Google.

Hope this helps.
———————————————————————————————
Rob Brown — Microsoft MVP Rob Brown — past Microsoft MVP — Windows Insider MVP 2016 — 2021
Microsoft MVP Windows and Devices for IT 2009 — 2020

How to Reset Your Windows 10 laptop: Format your PC

Here is how to format your Windows 10 laptop

Windows 10 is prone to all sorts of issues, from the sudden disappearance of files to problems with installing updates. If your computer isn’t running the way it should, giving you strange errors or performing slowly, then it’s probably time for a reset.

You might also want to reset your Windows 10 laptop if you’re upgrading to a new device and want to sell your old one. Of course, you don’t want to give a laptop filled with sensitive information and personal documents to a stranger. So before you exchange cash for tech, be sure to reformat your Windows 10 laptop.

Reformatting your PC or restoring to an earlier state can clean out any pesky background programs and wipe your computer’s hard drive of any unneeded files. The operating system provides a number of options that let you reset your Windows 10 computer to an earlier state.

Here’s how to reset your PC in Windows 10 using the settings menu. If you can’t access Settings, scroll down to instructions on formatting Windows 10 from the sign-in screen.

How to Reset Your Windows 10 PC

1. Navigate to Settings. You can get there by clicking the gear icon on the Start menu.

2. Select «Update & security»

3. Click Recovery in the left pane.

4. Windows presents you with three major options: Reset this PC, Go back to an earlier build and Advanced startup. Reset this PC is the best option for starting fresh.

Advanced startup lets you boot off a recovery USB drive or disc and «Go to an earlier build» is made for Windows Insiders who want to roll back to a previous version of the OS.

5. Click Get started under Reset this PC.

6. Click either «Keep my files» or «Remove everything,» depending on whether you want to keep your data files intact. If not, Remove everything will do as it says: delete all of your files, photos and programs. Either way, all of your settings will return to their defaults and apps will be uninstalled.

7. Select Just remove my files or Remove files and clean the drive if you chose «Remove everything» in the prior step.

Cleaning the drive takes a lot longer but will make sure that, if you are giving the computer away, the next person can’t recover your erased files. If you are keeping the computer, choose «Just remove my files.»

8. Click Next if Windows warns you that you won’t be able to roll back to a prior version of the OS.

9. Click Reset when prompted. Windows will then restart and take several minutes to reset itself.

10. Click Continue when prompted.

How to reformat Windows 10 from the sign-in screen

If your laptop is acting up, and you can’t access the settings menu, you can try resetting your PC from the sign-in screen.

Hopefully, you have fewer hiccups now that you know how to reset your Windows 10 PC. And if you’re planning on selling or giving your laptop away, you can do it with peace in mind that the next owner won’t have access to your files.

Now that you know how to reset your Windows 10 PC, check out our guide on how to open a port on Windows Firewall so you can whitelist programs from triggering your firewall.

How to Factory Reset Windows 10

If your Windows 10 machine is on the fritz, it might be time to restore the computer to its out-of-the-box settings. Here’s how to factory reset your PC.

If your Windows 10 machine is acting up, running Microsoft’s Refresh Windows tool or uninstalling a recent update might do the trick. But if your PC is sluggish or you’re getting worrying error messages, it might be time to back up your files and reset your PC to its factory settings. The steps below will (hopefully) get your computer running smoothly again.

Recovery Settings

Click the Start menu and select the gear icon in the lower left to open up the Settings window. You can also select the Settings app from the app list. Under Settings, click Update & Security > Recovery, then select Get started under Reset this PC.

Save or Remove Files

At this point, you have two options: You can either keep your personal files and only remove downloaded apps and settings, or you can wipe everything and start from scratch. Each choice will also give you an additional setting to change.

When you choose Keep my files, apps and settings will default to what they were when the PC was brand new, but your personal files will be saved. Any preinstalled apps will also be returned, but you can prevent this from happening by clicking Change settings at the Additional Settings screen and switching it off.

If you want to delete everything, click Remove everything, and Windows will simply erase erase all your files. This is the default option, and it is the quickest way to remove your personal files. However, you can also choose to clean the drive completely by clicking Change settings at the Additional Settings screen then toggling the Data erasure option to on.

While this will take several hours to complete, it’s the more secure option. Microsoft recommends wiping the drive completely if you’re looking to get rid of your PC, which will make it much harder to recover deleted files.

How to Factory Reset Windows 10 to Its Default Settings

Is your Windows 10 laptop or PC giving you trouble? Whether it takes more time for booting or is having frequent error messages, you may want to factory reset Windows 10 to its default settings. This means wiping all the information on your hard drive and starting again with a clean slate.

A Windows 10 reset is definitely a good way to fix many drive update issues and registry errors. However, you have to be patient, as the process can consume a lot of time, so allocate at least a few hours for this activity. This article discusses the various steps of factory reset on a Windows 10 laptop.

Always Make a Backup First

Since a clean reset will wipe all the information you have on your PC, it is necessary to make a backup elsewhere. You can either create a backup to a network drive or copy the files individually to an external hard disk.

I personally like to store the backup on the cloud. For this, I prefer Microsoft OneDrive since it’s tightly integrated with Windows. Also, the files and folders in OneDrive can be uploaded and downloaded exactly in the manner of your Windows PC appearance.

Whatever methods you find to be easy, don’t forget the backup stage, as on rare occasions things do go wrong while doing a factory reset. Screen freezes and infinite restart loops aren’t unheard of. If you encounter such issues during the factory reset, do a cold restart by hard-pressing the power button.

Turn on the “Reset this PC” Option

The Windows 10 reset option can be turned on simply from the Start menu. You can also access it from “Settings.”

Click “Get started” to reset the PC. You can also access this option from an “Advanced startup” menu discussed below.

You will be given two choices for resetting Windows 10. You can either keep your personal file and remove the apps and settings or go nuclear and delete everything.

Before you remove your data, you will be asked one last time whether you want to just remove the files. It also consumes less time than a complete reset. Click “Next” to ignore the advice.

It will take just a few minutes for the reset option to be enabled on your Windows PC.

In the next step your Windows 10 PC will prepare itself to reset everything. The process can take a little time, so be patient.

Once successful, the PC will prepare the restart and proceed further.

The PC will reset now in the background. It is a slow, time-consuming process. Windows will be reinstalled in the background itself. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only the apps that came pre-installed with Windows will be inserted. Wait for the process to complete itself, and you will have a similar desktop and an update back to the factory version of your Windows purchase.

Advanced Startup “Reset” Method

Another option is to reset the Windows PC in Safe mode. This is preferred if you are stuck infinitely in the “Prepare to reset” option in the above section. It is mostly a GUI error. The same procedure is used in safe mode option, but the steps are slightly different as shown below.

To reset Windows 10 in Safe mode, go to “Advanced Startup” in the Start menu. Once the blue screen starts, go to “Troubleshooting” followed by “Reset this PC.” Here, you get a choice to reset only the driver where Windows is installed or all drives. Choose the latter for a complete reset.

In the next step you get a choice to “fully clean the drive” or just “remove the files.”

The reset stage is ready. Once you click the “Reset” button, the PC will restart. and a Windows 10 reset will occur in the background.

Factory resetting the Windows 10 PC should be treated as a last option, as it is not uncommon to encounter problems while doing it. It is best to troubleshoot the issues first, be it a Windows Store error, a Critical Structure Corruption error, or a Bad System Config error. Only reset the PC if none of the solutions work.

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Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over ten years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.