artistic Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 I'm selling my old PC and I want to get rid of all my personal data so the buyer will have a totally clean computer. My question is, will CCleaner delete past files that I simply deleted with the Recyle Bin or by deleting my internet history prior to getting CCleaner? I would just reformat my hard drive, but the computer didnt come with a Windows CD to do that. Am I on right track by using CCleaner or is there something better for what I want to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFiresInTheSky Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 welcome to the forums Ccleaner isnt meant for this and the files are still recoverable. do you have the windows key? if so, you can format and use someone elses key CD, all you have to do then is call MS and tell them your details and they'll activate it for ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted October 5, 2006 Moderators Share Posted October 5, 2006 If you really want to get rid of everything file-wise and wipe the hard disk clean, and have a Windows install CD for reinstalling afterwords check out DBAN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldmannen Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 I agree with Andavari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 ...to make it rather impossible for anyone to restore your once deleted personal files from the data-carrier, it is important to wipe the disks. If those disks even hold some confidential informations from your company, you can be held responsible, in case those files can be restored and misused later on - just formatting the drive doesn?t wipe the files - they can still be restored afterwards... http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/eraser/Eraser57Setup.zip you?d rather do yourself the favour to secure-wipe all data-information on the drive and sell a clean and sober drive, as trying "to clean around Windows". Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldmannen Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 Yes, cleaning Windows is a bad idea. You should definitely do a fresh install after getting rid of the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 I agree with you guys but artistic's problem is ... the computer didnt come with a Windows CD ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFiresInTheSky Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 and my solution is you can format and use someone elses key, all you have to do then is call MS and tell them your details and they'll activate it for ya smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 Glenn wrote: (artistic @ Oct 5 2006, 06:07 PM) ... the computer didnt come with a Windows CD ... in artistic?s case, he should try to borrow a Win-98 Installation-CD and I?ll provide him with the necessary Installation-Code over PM. (As this is probably just about selling a working System - we are not talking about perfection) Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 and my solution is you can format and use someone elses key, all you have to do then is call MS and tell them your details and they'll activate it for ya ??? Did you mean "use someone else's CD"? Using someone else's key would be illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFiresInTheSky Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 my bad, i meant CD, not key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzzzzby Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 I meant to reply to your question, but after coming back from composing it in Notepad I entered it into the wrong (though a similar) post here. (Post #6) You could use SysInternals free program SDelete which will clean your disk free space (i.e. it will wipe all traces of previously deleted files. It is a command line utility which means you go to Start> Run> and type 'command' or 'cmd' (no quote marks) and press Enter. This will bring up the black/white command window. Just drag the extracted file 'SDelete.exe' onto the window and you should end up with a line something like this, depending on the location of your copy of SDelete:- C:\Documents and Settings\User Name>"F:\My Downloads\All Downloads\Compressed\sdelete\sdelete.exe" If, for example, you want to wipe the free space on your Drive E, with 3 passes, you would add (space)-p 3 -z E: so you end up with the line below:- C:\Documents and Settings\User Name>"F:\My Downloads\All Downloads\Compressed\sdelete\ sdelete.exe" -p 3 -z e: (don't forget the colon after the drive letter) Now press "enter" and it will start. It will take a while depending on how many passes you require it to make, but you'll end up with a nice sanitized disk with only the operating system on it (assuming you had already deleted everything except the operating system). If you enter no drive letter (by missing out the " -z etc" bit) then it will just wipe Drive C with your specified number of overwrites. SDelete works on Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003. Sorry to be long-winded about the above but better too much info than too little - and I don't know if you know about command lines! . P.S. You'd better empty your recycle bin(s) before you wipe the free space, or you might leave recoverable data on the disk. . You CAN lose your dog because it got loose. You CANNOT loose your dog because it got lose. Spot the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted October 11, 2006 Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2006 Yeah sdelete is a good choice if there's no way of obtaining a legal Windows install CD. One thing though command line programs like sdelete are much quicker to use if they're just unzipped into the Windows directory because then they can be accessed instantly via a command prompt without typing in any paths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Ross Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 ...to make it rather impossible for anyone to restore your once deleted personal files from the data-carrier, it is important to wipe the disks. If those disks even hold some confidential informations from your company, you can be held responsible, in case those files can be restored and misused later on - just formatting the drive doesn?t wipe the files - they can still be restored afterwards...That reminds me. Years ago we took drives and put a sledge hammer to them. It was fun too. The bank was to paranoid in recycling the drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldmannen Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 That reminds me. Years ago we took drives and put a sledge hammer to them. It was fun too. The bank was to paranoid in recycling the drives. Good. They really should be paranoid about the hard disk drives. I am not sure a sledge hammer is the best way to ensure the data is not recoverable though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Ross Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Good. They really should be paranoid about the hard disk drives. I am not sure a sledge hammer is the best way to ensure the data is not recoverable though. That's what they chose to do. I wasn't the program manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzzzzby Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Yeah sdelete is a good choice if there's no way of obtaining a legal Windows install CD. One thing though command line programs like sdelete are much quicker to use if they're just unzipped into the Windows directory because then they can be accessed instantly via a command prompt without typing in any paths. Thanks for that info Andavari; I wasn't aware of it so tried it out and you're quite right, it is much better! That's exactly why I like visiting forums - you pick up all sorts of useful stuff You CAN lose your dog because it got loose. You CANNOT loose your dog because it got lose. Spot the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Admiral Ross wtote: That reminds me. Years ago we took drives and put a sledge hammer to them. It was fun too. The bank was to paranoid in recycling the drives. we did and still do use a "magnetic-flushing-procedure" here in our country - exposing the old disks to a stong electrical current - or mechanically abrasive the surface of those disks. Taking advantage of just a sledge-hammer would definately be irresponsible (especially for a bank) - as fragments of those broken disks still could contain coherent and recoverable data - especially as data is more and more packed per square-inch. (...guess that was an American Bank you were talking about - those guys are sometimes too easy going). Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldmannen Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Yeah, the disks should be melted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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