Cleanup in Prep for Donation

[jgreven]

I'm preparing to donate my computer to charity and want
to leave most of the stuff intact, but remove histories
and anything else someone else might be able to use for
other than the best of intentions... besides buying some
cleaning program advertised on the net, do I have any
options for finding and deleting all that sensitive, but
hidden information? Thanks!!

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

The only safe way is to start over. Even if deleted (and that's assuming you
can find it all), personal and private information will still be retrievable
using any number of free undelete utilities. While I admire your willingness
to help this charity, you also need to protect yourself. It would be best to
give them a clean installation, and supply them with all disks that came
with the system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Malke]

Hi,

The only safe way is to start over. Even if deleted (and that's
assuming you can find it all), personal and private information will
still be retrievable using any number of free undelete utilities.
While I admire your willingness to help this charity, you also need to
protect yourself. It would be best to give them a clean installation,
and supply them with all disks that came with the system.

I totally agree with Mr. Rogers here. Besides, if you are not supplying
your charity with the Windows operating system and all disks that
originally came with your computer, it won't be a useful gift. Better
to just use Darik's Boot and Nuke, zero out the drive, and give them
the computer with the software if you have it.

Malke

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Mr Who?

Geez, I better dig out my cardigans.....<g>

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone