In the disk drives of our computer we first store the operating system, as well as the installed applications, and personal data. When it comes to removing all this, we have several methods that we have been using in Windows for years.
For example, if we have a problem with the operating system and it is not responding as it should, we can always reset it . The same happens in the event that we are going to sell or give away the computer so that the new user does not have access to everything that we had installed. It is a way of making sure, or at least it was, that the buyer does not have access to our own and personal files.
This is an important security measure that many have taken over time before parting with a PC with its hard drives . Here users have several options when it comes to resetting a system. There is the option to keep your own data and reset Windows, or have it removed entirely. This second alternative achieves that we have a computer as if it had just left the factory. As we mentioned before, this will be very useful when it comes to selling or giving away that equipment, for privacy reasons.
But as far as it’s coming out now, a report suggests that this wipe no longer removes user data entirely . This is something that is extended to Windows 10 and Windows 11 in the latest version released. And it is that, as we told you, resetting a Windows computer and deleting its data is useful in some circumstances. This happens both on a business and personal level.
Be wary of Windows Full Data Wipe
This is an option designed to remove personal data from the PC before disposing of it. We must bear in mind that users generally store personal and private data on disk drives. It goes without saying that all of this should not be handed over to the new owner for more than obvious reasons. Through the aforementioned report that has been published now, it seems that this Windows wipe function leaves user data in the latest versions of Windows 10 and 11.
To give you an idea, say that this method leaves all user data in the Windows.old folder . This is something that did not happen in previous versions of the system, since the restore deleted all this user data from Windows.old. Specifically, this is something that occurs in the recent version 21H2 of both versions of Windows. All this was discovered by chance before its official publication. As you can imagine, this change or, rather, error, can become a major security and privacy flaw.
Also, it is worth knowing that this is something that is maintained whether we do a local or remote reset of the computer. At this time we can say that the number of users affected by this deletion problem is unknown. But this is something that could be negatively affected due to a data breach . A temporary solution is based on resetting Windows making sure that the mentioned windows.old folder is deleted after completing the operation. At the same time, it only remains to wait for Microsoft to resolve the bug with a subsequent update.