Below are the top-rated free tools and built-in methods for securely sanitizing your drives in 2026. How to completely wipe a pc 100% before selling it?

When you "delete" a file, your computer doesn't actually erase it; it just hides it by marking the space as "available" for new data. To truly ensure sensitive information is gone—especially before selling or donating a PC—you need a to overwrite that space with random patterns.