Amazon Fire TV Stick owners are realising they’re making a huge upgrade mistake that can cause ‘massive grief’

AMAZON Fire TV Stick owners are making a potentially dangerous mistake when upgrading their kit, according to a tech enthusiast.

YouTuber CordCuttersLI has warned device owners that this key error could lead to “a bunch of grief down the road”.

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Amazon regularly upgrades its Amazon Fire TV Stick line-up with new features and improved performance.

And given that they’re pretty cheap to buy, it’s no wonder people want to buy a fancy new one every few years or so.

The problem is, people forget that Fire TV Sticks can have a lot of personal account information on them via the apps you use.

And even those that are aware of this may not be using the right settings to keep safe, CordCuttersLI explains.

“Before you throw your old one in the trash or even give it to a friend or relative, you’ll need to do one very important thing,” he said.

This is especially a risk of you decide to sell it on too.

The YouTuber says that getting rid of an old Fire TV Stick is no different to throwing away a computer, in that there is a lot of information on it personal to you.

In the case of your Fire TV Stick, we’re talking access to apps like Prime and Netflix, as well as any third party apps you’ve installed.

Some people think the Amazon account deregister option is enough but that doesn’t remove all data.

“There’s really only one true way to be one hundred per cent safe – other than crushing it and stepping on it – but there’s really only one way to be safe and secure in the fact that you’ve wiped everything off the Fire Stick,” he says.

How to wipe the Amazon Fire TV stick

CordCuttersLI advices users to do a full factory reset before parting with a Fire Stick.

To do this, head over to the gear or cog icon right at the end of the main menu.

Select My Fire TV.

Then, tap on Reset to Factory Defaults.

If you’re sure you’re ready to go ahead tap Reset – remember there is no going back once it’s done, everything will be gone for good.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk