Clean Install vs. Deleting Users' Accounts

Multiple customers approach our service counter weekly requesting their Macs be “completely wiped.” Normally, this means they would like their hard drive erased of all its content and the appropriate operating system reinstalled. I’m glad to perform this procedure, or give the customer instructions on how to do it on their own, any time a customer requests, but in some cases it’s not necessary.

The majority of customers are requesting this service because they are planning on giving their Mac to a family member or friend, and for the most part, they don’t want to share their personal data with the recipient. This is perfectly understandable, but in this specific situation a clean install of the existing operating system is not required. Creating a new user account and deleting your old account will serve the purpose of removing any of your personal user data and most certainly save you some time.

Creating a new user account is done in “Accounts,” located in “System Preferences.” Make sure the new account is an Administrator if you will be deleting your old account, as there needs to be at least one administrative account at all times. Once the new account is created, you can log into it and delete your old user account. When deleting a user account, you will receive a confirmation window. This window asks if you are sure you would like to delete the user account and gives you three choices as far as erasing the data. The last option—“Delete the home folder”—will successfully remove all user data from the account that’s being deleted.

Please note: while this does delete existing user data, it does not remove any installed applications. While this solution may work well for many people, simply removing the old user account(s) may not always be the best option. Here are two instances in which it would be preferable to reinstall the operating system on a Mac being handed over to someone else: If the Mac were being sold to a stranger, you may not want to hand over any installed applications. Or, if the operating system could possibly be problematic (slowness, certain applications not functioning properly), you could very well benefit from a reinstall of the system software.