Clean a PC before selling?

[jim]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

 

[Malke]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

You can't. Even with a format, data recovery software can retrieve
files. The only way to make sure there is nothing left of your activity
is to wipe the hard drive (Darik's Boot and Nuke is free; Acronis Disk
Cleanser is good but not free) or smash it with a sledge hammer.


Malke

 

[PD]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

The latter is the best way. I suppose you could use CCleaner or a
similar product to erase a lot of your Internet, download, search etc.
history.

 

[Freaky]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

Knowing very well what you are doing and using something like eraser to
clean out all free space (that would assume you already deleted anything
you don't want anyone else to see, like user profiles).

Nuking the disk and reinstalling is always safer.

PS crossposting is not appreciated.

 

[peter]

Not possible without a format and reinstall..........the key word in your
question is ALL!!

peter

 

[windmap]

There's No other way do it.

 

[jim]

You can't. Even with a format, data recovery software can retrieve files.
The only way to make sure there is nothing left of your activity is to
wipe the hard drive (Darik's Boot and Nuke is free; Acronis Disk Cleanser
is good but not free) or smash it with a sledge hammer.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thanks for the info - http://dban.sourceforge.net/ for those that want it
too.

jim

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

there is only one way

however, this is a complicated
process and best left to those
who have studied and practiced
the method. many of us old timers
and experts understand the methods
and will never share this experience
on the open newsgroups.

further it is unclear what the
true nature of your question is.

eradicating traces on the computer
is one side, there is however the
other end, whereas business's maintain
data that is forever linked to your ip
address and your billing accounts.

in addition, you simply can't
reinstall windows and simply give
the machine away.

windows has only one license per
computer and it is enforced without
compassion by Microsoft's activation
technology.

so you would need to decide to
sell or give away your copy of windows
then buy yourself a new license "or"
keep your windows and the
license you have.

my suggestion is to simply add
your old harddrive to your new
system as a slave drive. it will
be in your possession and will
come in handy.

then for the old machine either
sell it without a harddrive or
replace it with a blank one, one
which has never been used.

if you are going to donate it
then you should buy a cheap
harddrive to include in your
donation and tax deduction.
--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[ray]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

I really don't see that as being practical. I can tell you what I'd do -
boot a Linux Live CD then use 'shred' on all the partitions - then
reinstall the OS, or better yet, install it and a Linux dual boot.

 

[DanS]

there is only one way

however, this is a complicated
process and best left to those
who have studied and practiced
the method. many of us old timers
and experts understand the methods
and will never share this experience
on the open newsgroups.

Not complicated DB...maybe to you. Just use any number of utilities you
can d/l to do free space shredding with the OS still installed, or use
the HD mfg's utility disk to do a low-level 0 or 1 fill, however many
times you want.

further it is unclear what the
true nature of your question is.

The only thing unclear here is your typical answers all written in
riddles.

eradicating traces on the computer
is one side, there is however the
other end, whereas business's maintain
data that is forever linked to your ip
address and your billing accounts.

What does that have to do with the question ?

in addition, you simply can't
reinstall windows and simply give
the machine away.

windows has only one license per
computer and it is enforced without
compassion by Microsoft's activation
technology.

Maybe it was an OEM install already tied to the hardware, in which case
that copy of Windows is of no use unless it is on the same hardware.

 

[David]

A complete format and reinstall is probably the best way, IMO. Of course
you would need to give the Windows disk to the recipient because it is
licensed to only one computer.

Could personal data be obtained from the HD anyway. Yes, I suppose, but
only with a forensic exam of the HD. The average user wouldn't know how to
do this, and wouldn't care anyway.

However, if your have sensitive business or other data on the HD, the
easiest way to give yourself piece of mind is to remove the old HD, drive a
nail through it, and install a new HD into the computer.

 

[Dustin Harper]

The best and easiest way would be to format/reinstall. You would get rid of
all traces of any activity. Even then, there is a slight chance that your
data could be recovered.

This program will wipe your hard drive to Department of Defense standards:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/. Use that, then reinstall and you should be
fine enough. Unless the data is of national security, that should be enough.
It would cost more to retreive the data than it is worth.

 

[Bob I]

Then just remove the harddrive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before selling
it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that without a format
and complete re-install of the OS?

Over and above all the other good answers you've gotten, anybody who
acquired your used system would be best served by doing a format and
clean reinstallation anyway, so that's what I would do in your shoes.

Nothing personal, but if I acquired a used computer, the first thing I
would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. I
would have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been
installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there
may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and
problems, possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend
that anyone else do either.

 

[MikeF]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before
selling it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that
without a format and complete re-install of the OS?

Some folks offered some odd answers. Boot and Nuke is good. For those who
would like to check further:

http://www.google.com/search?q=wipe...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

 

[jim]

Over and above all the other good answers you've gotten, anybody who
acquired your used system would be best served by doing a format and
clean reinstallation anyway, so that's what I would do in your shoes.

Nothing personal, but if I acquired a used computer, the first thing I
would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. I
would have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been
installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there
may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and
problems, possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend
that anyone else do either.

Ken,

That's exactly what I thought. You never can tell what the previous owner
did on a PC or what spyware, keyloggers etc. may be on it. Good point.

jim

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

i know those softwares
you mentioned.

and your methodology provides
a false sense of security
to the inept.

but it really doesn't matter
since my response was for
the benefit of the o.p. and
not for the debate of others.

--

 

[Saucy]

If you wanted to clean ALL traces of your activity from a PC before
selling it or giving it away, what would be the best way to do that
without a format and complete re-install of the OS?

I use MaxBlast 4's zero-fill utility. It writes zeros to the entire drive
save the drive geometry. This method [zero-fill] is pretty good at wiping a
drive so well that even the weirder viruses are for sure erased. It makes
the drive like new.

However, it might not be quite enough to out-do a forensic analysis as one
pass with zeros might not get rid of trace evidences. For that you'd
probably need some sort of pgp wipe where all manner of patterns and
sequences get written to the drive several times instead of zeros just once.

If the information on your drive is *that* sensitive, e.g. ultra-top-secret
plans to a 10th dimensional plasma boom device [whoops I shouldn't have
admitted such a device exists on an open forum], then just destroy the
drive.

Saucy

 

[DanS]

A complete format and reinstall is probably the best way, IMO. Of
course you would need to give the Windows disk to the recipient
because it is licensed to only one computer.

Could personal data be obtained from the HD anyway. Yes, I suppose,
but only with a forensic exam of the HD. The average user wouldn't
know how to do this, and wouldn't care anyway.

A format and re-install may not completely overwrite all the user data on a
HD.

I've never examined a hard disk layout directly after a format/reinstall,
but I'm guessing that most user data would be stored outside the platter
tracks that the OS will install to on a clean install.

Any area of the disk that is not written to on the re-install is fair game
for recovery.....and it's not hard. There are a 1,001 utilities that can
piece together the data, even after a format. Even after an FDisk. I have
done it. I have manually recreated partition tables, and I have
'unformatted' more than one HD.

There's no way to be sure all data has been removed w/o using a s/w utility
to wipe the disk. Simple as that.

 

[DanS]

i know those softwares
you mentioned.

and your methodology provides
a false sense of security
to the inept.

Using DoD compliant s/w gives
a false sense of security ?

but it really doesn't matter
since my response was for
the benefit of the o.p. and
not for the debate of others.

You have a Frank ego.

And who cares why you posted. I
certainly don't.

It was a post in a publicly
accessible newsgroup, which,
by nature, is up for comment
by ANYONE.

If you don't want to engage
in a discussion or debate, then
stop throwing in your one cent.
(If it's worth that much.)