We have all seen the situation where an employee has left the company or been terminated, for whatever reason, and a decision has to be made about the computer and or phone they were using while employed.
If the equipment is still viable, it should be re-purposed for new or existing employees. The question is what to do with the data. We here at Frankenstein Computers recommend that you should first scan the whole drive for infections, then comb through all of the data from the profile and backup anything work related in a safe location with only IT and administrator access. After backing up, there should be a policy of wiping and re-imaging, as well as general maintenance when the equipment is within the IT space.
Phones get factory reset before being reissued, and laptops or computers are re-imaged, updated, and sanitized before being issued again. Starting fresh is always the best option. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that your new users will not be getting into information they should not, and if you have an employee that was let go on unsavory terms, you may want to have the security of that re-image to make 100% sure that there is nothing malicious on the hardware.
If the equipment is to be retired and a full scan of the hard drive has been completed, a full backup of data should happen along with a full wipe of the hard drive on the computers or a factory reset of the phones. This is always the best option to prevent any data from being compromised. The equipment can then be properly recycled. If you are not sure where you can take your equipment for recycling, Frankenstein can also assist with that.
We can help with any of these things as needed. Just give us a call and we can discuss your needs and what steps should be taken.
Frankenstein Computers has been taking care of our happy clients since 1999. We specialize in affordable IT Support, IT Service, MAC repair, PC Repair, Virus Removal, web design and much more. Give us a call for remote support or drop in to drop off. Check out what our clients are saying about us on Yelp!