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Wipe Clean Your Cell Phone

When the John McCain campaign didn't wipe out their BlackBerrys before they sold them, they unwittingly dumped a trove of confidential phone numbers into a reporter's hands. When you throw out or recycle a phone, you may be doing the same thing—letting the next person who grabs it see your old text messages, or your mom's number, or that "seductive" photo you took for your significant other.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to solve this problem: before you ditch, sell, recycle or donate your device, wipe it.

If you've just bought a new phone from your carrier, you can take your old and new phones to the carrier's store. They'll wipe out the old phone for you, and they'll probably be able to transfer your contacts to the new phone, too (though they may charge you about $10). Then you can give the old phone away, sell it on eBay or CellForCash.com or donate it to a charity by dropping it off at the carrier retail store.

Otherwise, here are some tips for deleting data on your own. These tips won't protect your phones against police-grade forensic software, but they'll protect you against casual poking around.

All Phones: Remember to remove any memory cards. Also, before you sell or give away a phone, either remove your SIM card (for AT&T and T-Mobile users) or call your carrier to get them to remove the phone from your account (for Verizon, Sprint, Alltel, Cricket and MetroPCS users).

BlackBerrys: From the home screen, select Options, then Security Options, then General Settings. Click the menu button. Select Wipe Handheld.

iPhones: Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, and select the various iPhone tabs to turn off syncing. (Pay special attention to the "Info" tab.) Now disconnect your iPhone and turn it off. Hold down the Home button until the message "Please connect to iTunes" appears. Let go of the Home button. Plug the iPhone into your PC or Mac and run iTunes. Click OK, then Restore.

Palm OS Phones: Each device has slightly different instructions, but they're all collected on Palm.com.

Windows Mobile Phones: Irritatingly, it varies from device to device. On some phones, from the programs list, go to Settings, then System, then Clear Storage. Enter "1234" and press the Yes button (probably the left soft key). Clear Storage might also be in the Accessories or System Tools folder in your program list. Some Windows Mobile devices have a "Hard Reset" option instead of Clear Storage.

Windows Mobile Palm Treos: Remove the back cover of the phone. Hold down the power button. Remove the battery, then immediately replace it. Let go of the power button. Press Up.

Most Nokia Phones: Type *#7370# on the keypad. Enter 12345 as the security code.

Other phones: Go to the phone's "settings" menu. Look for an option marked "Security," "Master Reset," "Memory," "Initial Setup" or "Clear." You might open another menu; look for a Clear, Wipe or Master/Factory Reset option. If the phone asks you for a lock code, it's usually the last four digits of your phone number, but it could also be "1234" or "000000." If you can't find the right option, go to a carrier store; they'll wipe the phone for you.

---source : pcmags.com