Handing back work laptop

Zola.

I have a MacBook through work. I am joining a new company after many years.
I want to effectively wipe the laptop of any personal details (like all my auto saved passwords, personal bookmarks etc).
If I simply uninstall the browser applications, will that remove it all?  I want to leave it clean and fresh for the next person. 

HereToday

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/reset-mac

Neil_Jones

Zola. said:

I have a MacBook through work. I am joining a new company after many years.
I want to effectively wipe the laptop of any personal details (like all my auto saved passwords, personal bookmarks etc).
If I simply uninstall the browser applications, will that remove it all?  I want to leave it clean and fresh for the next person. 

Any decent work IT department would reset/reconfigure it themselves before it becomes a work tool of somebody else.

Username03725

Neil_Jones said:

Zola. said:

I have a MacBook through work. I am joining a new company after many years.
I want to effectively wipe the laptop of any personal details (like all my auto saved passwords, personal bookmarks etc).
If I simply uninstall the browser applications, will that remove it all?  I want to leave it clean and fresh for the next person. 

Any decent work IT department would reset/reconfigure it themselves before it becomes a work tool of somebody else.

If the data, history etc consists of personal info and logins to websites and esp online banking, it would be best to do that up front rather than relying on an IT Support guy to do it. In fact you'd be leaving yourself open to a potential world of pain if someone is able to access your bank account or pensions web sites if you made the credentials available, whether by omission or by positive action.

Most browsers have an option to remove personal data - in Edge it's under Settings > Privacy Search And Services > then hit the button Choose What To Clear and select all of the options. Other browsers have similar options.

chatterbox121

www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/reset-mac-3494564/

bengalknights

Do you work for a employer that has its own IT department?
If so they will reimage it by default.

Heedtheadvice

......well they should!!!!!.........but might not do!

Neil_Jones

I suppose it could be argued that a work laptop is intended... for work.  If it ends up with personal bookmarks for Dominos Pizza, YouTube videos for Cities: Skylines and conspiracy theories about 9/11, and your acceptable usage policy for work laptops boils down to "the work laptop is only for work use - no personal use under any circumstances", then it shouldn't have bookmarks for Dominos, YouTube and "why 9/11 was an inside job" on it in the first place, as none of those (unless you work at Dominos, YouTube/Paradox or the FBI) are work related items.

Of course it depends on the company policies in place.  They may be blocked at corporate level or at the very least monitored/logged over the VPN.  You may get gently advised not to carry on (especially during work hours, although some places may be a bit more lenient during lunch/at 8pm on a Saturday night) but of course some areas are totally of limits on work devices at any time.  Like "adult" sites for example.

Username03725

bengalknights said:

Do you work for a employer that has its own IT department?
If so they will reimage it by default.

Yes, but before they do that, any confidential information will be accessible to the IT guy(s). If they're like ours they'll be the absolute most trustworthy salt-of-the-earth types who you'd trust with everything you own. But other IT guys might not be; would you hand over a notebook full of your passwords and your access to your favourite sites to a guy in IT and ask him to 'make sure it all gets destroyed after I've gone'? Then 3 months later when you get into a dispute with your bank or a shop you once dealt with and the question 'did you take all reasonable precautions to prevent your personal info, including passwords and log-ins, from being exposed to other people who have no reason to see them?' is answered with 'yes, I did everything possible, by handing them over to a guy in IT who I've never met but promised to delete everything', you might be on a sticky wicket.

Honestly - relying on someone else to do it isn't taking responsibility. 

coffeehound

There are different types of work laptops too.  Some are just pool machines people borrow to do a particular job and then return.  I've seen these chock-full with people's files and whatnot.