How to erase everything on an old imac?

1. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until the startup options window comes up.
2. When the Utilities window appears, select Disk Utility.
3. In the sidebar, choose Macintosh HD.
4. Click the “Erase” button, then select a file system format and enter a name for it.

Amazingly, how do I wipe an old iMac clean? Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. Release the keys after about 20 seconds. This clears user settings from memory and restores certain security features that might have been altered.

Likewise, how do I delete all files from my old Mac?

1. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac, click Storage, then click Manage.
2. Click a category in the sidebar: Applications, Music, TV, Messages, and Books: These categories list files individually. To delete an item, select the file, then click Delete.

Frequent question, how do I reset my Mac desktop to factory settings? To reset your Mac, first restart your computer. Then press and hold Command + R until you see the Apple logo. Next, go to Disk Utility > View > View all devices, and choose the top drive. Next, click Erase, fill out the required details, and hit Erase again.

Best answer for this question, how do I factory reset my iMac 2011? Restart your iMac by clicking the Apple menu, then select Restart…. Click the Restart button when the dialog box appears. After the iMac shuts down completely but before it begins to restart, hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys at the same time.

1. Hold the Option key and go to File > Delete Immediately from the menu bar.
2. Press Option + Command (⌘) + Delete.

How do you delete a file that won’t Delete on a Mac?

Type in “rm -f ” without the quotation marks, and with the space after the f. Then find the file that wont delete, and drag it to the Terminal window, and the path to that item should appear. Double check that this is the thing you want to delete, then press enter.

How do you delete on a Mac?

Delete an item from your Mac or iCloud Drive On your Mac, drag the item to the Trash in the Dock or select the item, then press Command-Delete. If an item is locked, click Continue to confirm you want to move the locked item to the Trash.

How do I factory reset my Mac desktop 2021?

1. In the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen, choose Restart.
2. As the system is restarting, hold both the Command and R keys on the keyboard at the same time until you see the Recovery Mode window.
3. Enter your admin password to confirm the action.

How do I factory reset my 2009 iMac without CD?

Select the hard drive on which Mac OS X is installed from the tree list on the left side of the window. Open the “Erase” tab. Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” from the “Format:” drop menu and enter a name for the hard drive in the “Name:” text entry field. Click “Erase…” to clear all of the hard drive’s contents.

How do I factory reset my Mac desktop without Apple keyboard?

Reboot your Mac. Hold down Option/Alt-Command-R or Shift-Option/Alt-Command-R to force your Mac to boot into macOS Recovery Mode over the internet. This should boot the Mac into Recovery Mode.

What happens if I factory reset my Mac?

Resetting a Mac to factory settings gets rid of all the data stored on that machine, so we recommend that you make a backup of the data first. This can be done very simply using Apple’s Time Machine software – here’s how to back up using Time Machine.

How do I reset my IMAC 2012 to factory settings?

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Does emptying recycle bin permanently delete?

You can easily empty the recycle bin on your Windows 10 computer and permanently remove files from your PC. Once you empty your recycle bin, the content is gone forever, unless you saved it on an external hard drive or the cloud. Emptying the recycle bin on your computer can help to free up some hard drive space.

How Do You Secure Delete on a Mac?

1. Control-click on the Trash icon in your Dock, at the bottom of your screen.
2. Press the Command button.
3. Click Secure Empty Trash.
4. And again, select Secure Empty Trash.

Are deleted files really deleted?

When you a delete a file, it isn’t really erased – it continues existing on your hard drive, even after you empty it from the Recycle Bin. … If you’re not careful, this will also allow other people to recover your confidential files, even if you think you’ve deleted them.

How do you delete something that won’t delete?

1. Method 1. Close apps.
2. Method 2. Close Windows Explorer.
3. Method 3. Reboot Windows.
4. Method 4. Use Safe Mode.
5. Method 5. Use a software deletion app.