What You Must Delete Before Leaving a Job?

What You Must Delete Before Leaving a Job?

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Leaving one job for another takes a lot of steps, among which one is especially easy to be neglected: deleting your files from your work computer.

Often, employee handbooks dictate what you can and cannot delete, so you need to be both careful not to run afoul of those policies — and to delete everything you should. Here are five things should ideally be wiped from your work computer so that you can leave your job in peace.

Personal Files

Ideally, you should not be using your work laptop for personal items, but as work and life boundaries blur, it’s easy to forget. If you are planning an exit, you’ll first want to get rid of any personal files like family photos.

If you downloaded sensitive documents to print at your office, like your W-2 or other tax papers, be sure to delete those, too. “Highly recommend deleting personal files, tax documents, contacts and personal photos,” said Nick Santora, CEO of the security awareness training platform Curricula.

Browsing History

Want to delete any embarrassing Google searches? Joanna Grama, associate vice president of Vantage Technology Consulting Group, also recommended deleting your browser history and any passwords that your browser may have saved for you.

For Chrome, select History, then “clear browsing data,” and then select the appropriate time range. On Firefox, once you select History, you will have the option to “clear recent history.”

Apps, Software Or Extensions

If you downloaded, for example, a bank app or Alipay on a work-issued phone, make sure to delete those before you leave. You should also think about similar items on your laptop.

“On my last day, I would also log out of any active applications that I use for work and I would empty the computer’s recycle bin.” Grama advised.

As part of your clean-up process, consider whether you need to update the email address you use to subscribe to any services or newsletters.

“If the newsletter is one that I still want to receive after I leave the employer and it is not a newsletter for my employer, then I will want to change the email address to a personal one,” Grama said. “If the newsletter is one that I no longer want to receive, I could unsubscribe from it, just to keep my work email tidy for whomever might be monitoring it once I leave.”

Messaging Apps And Cookies

Your employer can potentially have access to your personal messaging apps, like Apple Messages, if you leave them on your work computer, so be sure to take those off, too.

”A lot of people will log in to their personal accounts — think iMessage — on their work computer,” said Andrew Stanek, data science manager at Pave, a compensation startup. “I always suggest logging out of these and clearing your cookies so they don’t stay on the work computer.”

Web browsers also store cookies, which contain information about your website activity and preferences.

On Chrome, select Chrome from the top menu, then “clear browsing data.” From there you will have the option to clear all your cookies. On Firefox, click Privacy & Security, then the “cookies and site data” option. On Safari, choose “clear history” from the Safari tab of the drop-down menu.

Passwords

If you’ve ever used your work computer for anything personal, you likely saved a password. Be sure to wipe those off before you leave.

“Most of the time work computers will also be used as personal devices on occasion. This means that your passwords and account for personal websites might also remain unless you intentionally delete them off the device,” Santora said. “It’s best to disconnect any type of iCloud or Google Sync to ensure none of your personal information is left behind to your former employer.”

Source: HuffPost