I will need to take my laptop to a local PC shop. They will do a hardware upgrade but I don't want them to access my personal information. They will need to start the laptop and get into the bios. What are some options or solutions to prevent the shop from snooping around?
If you can't trust the shop go to another shop or do the upgrade yourself. If possible, remove the harddrive.
How degraded are people that they can't perform simple functions on the equipment i.e. laptop? People are becoming consumers! But if they are interested in the forum, then it's not so bad. There is still a chance. If you don't trust the service Think, why can't the service inject the Worm into you? And he will tell you that it is for better performance PS: Go to the BIOS thread on the forum and download your firmware. Or the manufacturer's website and update. Or customize it yourself. What's the problem?
Take full backup of HDD on another External HDD and restore windows to defaults Or install new windows The idea is remove personal files from eyes , they still can restore it but it will take them some time You could simply remove HDD and replace it with old HDD temporary or you could use low level format tool after take backup Or you could lock hdd using Bit locker Encryption or you could us "ATA password " to prevent HDD swapping on another machine
Basically, you have 2 options. The first is to learn to do the repairs yourself. Failing this, then you should find a repair shop that you trust. This would most likely not be the Geek Squad.
simple, take out your hard drive and put in another hard drive with just a basic windows installed on that hard drive. When you get the computer back, put back in your original hard drive.
If they have no need to go past the BIOS, take the HD out, If booting to the desktop is required, learn to do the upgrade yourself.
Just install any folder locker software and lock down your folders with a strong password. Also lock down the access to the folder locker program with the strong password so it can't be access or uninstalled.
Your files should be always protected. Apps, browsers and malware can steal your info at any time, they do not wait for your consent. So assuming that your MSA is secured (files in the cloud only), just create a local admin acocunt they can use when setting up the PC.