It may be possible to gain access by downloading a password reset tool and booting from it. I know, I know, sometimes people are curious or “adventuresome” (perhaps a synonym for foolhardy?) and want to see what’s on the existing hard disk. That fact that the previous owner didn’t know enough to securely erase their data doesn’t bode well for their security habits. You’re not going to suffer from any infections or malware left behind by the previous owner. You’re not even going to try to access or recover the previous owner’s data. It’s the only way to be certain you know what is - and perhaps more importantly, what is not - on the machine. The right thing to do is to ignore anything on the hard disk, get a Windows install disk, and reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch. So lesson #2 is for you, the person acquiring a second-hand machine by whatever means. You have no idea what you have … not really. You have no idea how safety-smart the previous owner of that computer may or may not have been. I’m not saying this is the case I am saying you can’t know that it’s not. They’re waiting for the opportunity to propagate, compromise, destroy, and generally cause havoc. How do you know the machine you just received isn’t chock-full of malware?įor all you know, there are viruses, trojans, spyware, ransomware, and more on that machine, just waiting for you to do something: connect to your local network, share files with other machines, or log in to your bank account. I mean, do you really know what you have? So lesson #1 is for whoever sold the computer in the first place: securely erase your data, or you run the risk of the computer’s new owner having access to all of it. They may think they’ve deleted the files they care about, but as I’ve discussed in many articles in the past, there are often sensitive remnants in other places, and even deleted data can sometimes be recovered. We hear stories all the time of second-hand computers that are sold or discarded with sensitive personal data still on the machine. It’s clear they did not take the extra step to securely delete all of the data on the hard drive. How do I know this? Because it still boots into Windows. The problem for the original owner is this: they’ve given away or sold the computer … and all of the data on it. Alternately, remove the hard drive and connect it to a different computer as a secondary drive. 
If you must, try a password-reset tool.The safest solution is to reformat and reinstall, not even trying to access existing hard disk contents.You risk exposing yourself to malware or worse when accessing data from a second-hand computer.You may be giving away personal information when giving away a computer.
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