
The platter stores data onto its circular surface in chunks of 1s and 0s. These are called platters, and they’re the pieces of hardware that actually store all of those cat videos and family photos. Inside your hard drive are two rotating discs that sort of resemble a CD. That opens a Windows Defender Security Center window to the Fresh Start option.

The latter, as its name suggests, will delete your files. The former resets your options to default and removes uninstalled apps, like browsers, but keeps your data intact.
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You won’t see your usual login page, anymore, but instead will see a “macOS Utilities” window.

When the computer shuts off and powers back on, hold Command + R until you see the Apple logo.

If you only ever really played games or finished school work on your computer, there’s probably little risk in using a factory reset as your primary form of data wiping.īut if you own a company and complete that work on a computer, you may have employees’ social security numbers on the hard drive, for example.
