How do I erase all traces on my mac powerbook?

Question

I want to make sure my trash cannot be recovered. Are there any free programs that will do this?

Answer 1

BEST WAY an average person and get rid of as much information as possible.

Wipe the hard drive, then destroy it with a hammer, you have to do this because even if you wipe it, professional hackers can uncover the data.

Answer 2

you'll need to format. every sector of the disk needs to be overwritten with something to completely hide traces of activities.

traditionally, formatting deletes the index file which is the computers contents page for a hard disk. removing this file removes any reference to what is on the hard drive, but it does not remove what was on the hard drive, as this is still locked away in different sectors.

Answer 3

Never let anyone log on as you. OS X will keep your data safe.

Create separate accounts for other users.