Notice On Deleting Data From Your Hard Disk Drive; Using Firewalls - Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E145 User Manual

1. Set a power-on password as well as a hard disk password for your internal hard disk drive. Refer to
the procedures in "Power-on password" on page 44 and "Hard disk passwords" on page 44. For
security, a longer password is recommended.
2. If a Disk Encryption hard disk drive is installed in your computer, be sure to protect the contents of your
computer memory from unauthorized access by use of drive encryption software.
3. Before you dispose of, sell, or hand over your computer, be sure to delete data stored on it. Refer to
"Notice on deleting data from your hard disk drive" on page 48.
Note: The hard disk drive built into your computer can be protected by UEFI BIOS.

Notice on deleting data from your hard disk drive

As computers spread into every corner of life, they process more and more information. The data on your
computer, some of which might be sensitive, is stored on a hard disk drive. Before you dispose of, sell, or
hand over your computer, be sure to delete data stored on it.
Handing your computer over to someone else without deleting the loaded software, such as operating
systems and program software, might even violate license agreements. You are advised to check the
terms and conditions of those license agreements.
There are methods that seem to delete the data:
• Move the data to the recycle bin, and then click Empty recycle bin.
• Use the Delete option.
• Format your hard disk drive, using the software for initializing it.
• Using the recovery program to bring the hard disk drive back to the factory default settings.
These operations, however, only change the file allocation of the data; they do not delete the data itself. In
other words, the data retrieval processing is disabled under an operating system such as Windows. The
data is still there, even though it seems to be lost. Thus, it is sometimes possible to read the data by use of
special software for data recovery. There is a risk that people of bad faith might read and misuse the critical
data on hard disk drives for unexpected purposes.
To prevent leakage of data, it becomes very important that you take responsibility for deleting all the data
from the hard disk drive when you dispose of, sell, or hand over your computer. You can destroy the data
physically by smashing the hard disk drive with a hammer, or magnetically by means of strong magnetic
power, thus making the data unreadable. But we recommend that you make use of the software (payware) or
service (pay service) specifically developed for the purpose.
For disposing of data on the hard disk drive, Lenovo provides the Secure Data Disposal tool. To download
the program, go to:
http://www.lenovo.com/support
Note: Running this program will take a couple of hours.

Using firewalls

If your system is preinstalled with a firewall program, it protects against computer Internet security threats,
unauthorized access, intrusions, and Internet attacks. It also protects your privacy.
For more information about how to use the firewall program, refer to the help information system that
comes with the program.
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User Guide