Tech help

[scrumpingforapples]

Probably a stupid question but am pretty IT illiterate. I need my laptop screen changing. Do I wipe all my personal finance information from my laptop before handing it in to a repair shop. The laptop is face is enabled.

[Pixiedust1234]

I would. And back up any information or pictures that you don't want to lose.

You might trust the person doing the repair but you have no control over who else has access to it during that time.

[weathervane1]

You could do that. An alternative that some repair places use is to hand you your hard drive on handover, pop in their own with a simple windows installation - enough to see that the screen is working correctly, replace the screen, test it and then swap your hard drive back in when you collect it. I agree with the previous poster though, I'd remove sensitive data before letting a stranger near my computer.

[RoxyMuzak]

@weathervane1

You could do that. An alternative that some repair places use is to hand you your hard drive on handover, pop in their own with a simple windows installation - enough to see that the screen is working correctly, replace the screen, test it and then swap your hard drive back in when you collect it. I agree with the previous poster though, I'd remove sensitive data before letting a stranger near my computer.

They could use a bootable CD or USB stick. Or even just turn it on and see the BIOS screen.

[weathervane1]

@RoxyMuzak I thought of that but wondered if they might want to give the new screen a graphic workout and test refresh rates etc. In truth a new screen will either work or it won't - there isn't normally a half way where it only partially works.

[RoxyMuzak]

It is pretty normal to remove your hard drive before handing a laptop over for repair. You can probably find a YouTube video showing how to do that for your model. You could add a note saying 'disk intentionally removed' or some such.

[RoxyMuzak]

@weathervane1

@RoxyMuzak I thought of that but wondered if they might want to give the new screen a graphic workout and test refresh rates etc. In truth a new screen will either work or it won't - there isn't normally a half way where it only partially works.

Any pro repair shop will have a standard procedure for this.