How to Identify and Delete Important Data from Laptop to be Sold

[Sam]

A neighbor of mine is getting ready to sell her Sony Vaio laptop (through an
EBay store) that has windows XP Pro and MS Office XP installed, and with one
physical HD and one partition. She wants to leave Windows and Office
installed but delete sensitive data from the HD such as her data files, etc.
She has asked me for help in identifying important and sensitive
folders/files and how they should be deleted. When she asked me for help, I
thought that would be easy until I got to thinking about it!!

My initial thought would be for her to backup and delete important data in
the My Documents folder and on the desktop of her profile. Visit all Temp
folders and delete all files there, delete the in use Network connection
icon (control panel, network connections icon), accomplish a search for
extensions such as *.doc, and other document extensions that she may have
used - backup and delete any found if need be, delete cookies, delete the
user profile she currently uses, and then empty the recycle bin.

Questions:
a. I have a feeling that I have missed some important files and
folders - any suggestions??
b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or
should I find a software program that will overwrite all open
spaces on the HD?? Seems like that I read somewhere there is some
risk in using such programs???

Any suggestions and help would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Sam.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

A neighbor of mine is getting ready to sell her Sony Vaio laptop (through an
EBay store) that has windows XP Pro and MS Office XP installed, and with one
physical HD and one partition. She wants to leave Windows and Office
installed but delete sensitive data from the HD such as her data files, etc.
She has asked me for help in identifying important and sensitive
folders/files and how they should be deleted. When she asked me for help, I
thought that would be easy until I got to thinking about it!!

My initial thought would be for her to backup and delete important data in
the My Documents folder and on the desktop of her profile. Visit all Temp
folders and delete all files there, delete the in use Network connection
icon (control panel, network connections icon), accomplish a search for
extensions such as *.doc, and other document extensions that she may have
used - backup and delete any found if need be, delete cookies, delete the
user profile she currently uses, and then empty the recycle bin.

Questions:
a. I have a feeling that I have missed some important files and
folders - any suggestions??
b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or
should I find a software program that will overwrite all open
spaces on the HD?? Seems like that I read somewhere there is some
risk in using such programs???

Any suggestions and help would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Sam.

To protect your neighbor's personal information and data from any
future users of average skills, she should, at the very least, format
the hard drive and reinstall only the OS and those applications whose
licenses are to be included in the sale/transfer. If she wishes to do a
more thorough job of protecting her personal data, WipeDrive 2.2.1
(http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_Overview.htm?ProductNum=07) meets
U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard
drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[V Green]

Maybe others can help here, but if this
were my machine, I woudn't be happy with any
other procedure than a complete wipe, long format
(vs. quick format) & reinstall of the OS. Might
even want to use a "shredder" utility on the HD
after the format.

There's just no way to make sure that there aren't
passwords in the Registry + other sensitive stuff
still available for the picking.

The Vaio manual should have instructions on how
to completely reinstall the OS if you need to. It may
be in a hidden partion on the HD which you'll need
to be carfeul that you don't overwrite during the
format.

 

[Gino]

Take the Hard Drive out and smash it into the sidewalk with a hammer !

The above procedure is guaranteed to work.

news:[email protected]...

 

[dev]

/Sam/ said:

A neighbor of mine is getting ready to sell her Sony Vaio laptop (through an
EBay store) that has windows XP Pro and MS Office XP installed, and with one
physical HD and one partition. She wants to leave Windows and Office
installed but delete sensitive data from the HD such as her data files, etc.
She has asked me for help in identifying important and sensitive
folders/files and how they should be deleted. When she asked me for help, I
thought that would be easy until I got to thinking about it!!

My initial thought would be for her to backup and delete important data in
the My Documents folder and on the desktop of her profile. Visit all Temp
folders and delete all files there, delete the in use Network connection
icon (control panel, network connections icon), accomplish a search for
extensions such as *.doc, and other document extensions that she may have
used - backup and delete any found if need be, delete cookies, delete the
user profile she currently uses, and then empty the recycle bin.

Questions:
a. I have a feeling that I have missed some important files and
folders - any suggestions??
b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or
should I find a software program that will overwrite all open
spaces on the HD?? Seems like that I read somewhere there is some
risk in using such programs???

Any suggestions and help would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Sam.

Along with Bruce's suggestion, check out COPYWIPE
http://terabyteunlimited.com

It's free.

 

[Guest]

without reinstall,
backup
reboot
login as administrator
delete user profiles (my computer > properties, advances, user profiles)
check out c:\documents and settings
check out other folders
use cipher.exe to wipe free space. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814599

best would be to boot up from another media, delete partition, cipher it (or
similar) reinstall.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A neighbor of mine is getting ready to sell her Sony Vaio laptop
(through an EBay store) that has windows XP Pro and MS Office XP
installed, and with one physical HD and one partition. She wants to
leave Windows and Office installed

There's little reason to leave anything installed. If I bought 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.

but delete sensitive data from the
HD such as her data files, etc. She has asked me for help in
identifying important and sensitive folders/files and how they should
be deleted. When she asked me for help, I thought that would be easy
until I got to thinking about it!!


b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it. It just marks the space as
available to be used.

should I find a software program that will overwrite all
open spaces on the HD??

That is much safer.

Seems like that I read somewhere there is some risk in using such
programs?

There's no risk. Just don't assume that it's perfect. There are
sophisticated data recovery techniques that can often find are retrieve data
that has even been overwrtitten multiple times. That's why the US government
doesn't rely on such software, but instead physically destroys disks
comtaining sensitivedata.

Still, for the enormous majority of people, that overwriting is certainly
sufficient.

 

[Sam]

Many thanks for all of your replies and information! If my neighbor can
find all of the CDs that came with the laptop, will plan to do a complete
wipe of the HD, using the COPYWIPE Program. Hopefully if she has the tech
manual that came with the computer, maybe I can determine if there is a
backup on a hidden partition, which will make my job much easier. Thanks
again for your help, Sam.

 

[Ayush]

I use Webroot's Windows Washer. It can even clean all popular software's temp like
Adobe products and RealOneplayer and there are lots of them it. It automatically
configures them.Specially for temp folder deletion,for privacy, for security.
http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/windowwasher/features.html

Key features :
Browser Activity Eraser
Window Washer cleans all aspects of your browser activity, including Internet
history, address bar, cache, cookies, and more.
Permanent Bleaching
Bleach, an encryption feature, completely overwrites files with random characters to
make them unrecoverable. This feature is so powerful it exceeds the tough standards
of the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency.
Free Space Cleaner and One-click Shredder
Free space on your computer contains portions of old and previously deleted files and
documents. Window Washer now cleans this area making the files you deleted earlier
permanently unrecoverable.

Critical File Protection
Window Washer includes built-in safety features to help prevent you from accidentally
removing important files. Alerts prompt you to confirm your request to delete special
folders, like system folders, My Documents, My Photos, and others, so they remain
safe from unintentional deletions.

Flexible Washes
During a wash, Window Washer automatically cleans the latest versions of your
favorite programs such as Real Player, Google Search Toolbar, iTunes, Macromedia
Flash Player, Adobe Acrobat and hundreds more, to keep these programs running
smoothly.

Automatic Wash Cycles
You can set Window Washer to automatically clean your system at specified intervals,
like at shut down or start up. For added security, we recommend setting Window Washer
to wash when you close your Internet browser.

Total System Erase
Window Washer can be set to fully erase your hard drive, files, programs and
operating system for easy re-formatting. Consider using this feature if you're
donating or selling your PC and you don't want your files to be seen by strangers.


--

Ayush [ Be ''?'' Happy ]

For any query, search > www.Google.com
Want to know about a term > http://en.wikipedia.org

Replied To :
-------------------------------------------------------------

:A neighbor of mine is getting ready to sell her Sony Vaio laptop (through an
: EBay store) that has windows XP Pro and MS Office XP installed, and with one
: physical HD and one partition. She wants to leave Windows and Office
: installed but delete sensitive data from the HD such as her data files, etc.
: She has asked me for help in identifying important and sensitive
: folders/files and how they should be deleted. When she asked me for help, I
: thought that would be easy until I got to thinking about it!!
:
: My initial thought would be for her to backup and delete important data in
: the My Documents folder and on the desktop of her profile. Visit all Temp
: folders and delete all files there, delete the in use Network connection
: icon (control panel, network connections icon), accomplish a search for
: extensions such as *.doc, and other document extensions that she may have
: used - backup and delete any found if need be, delete cookies, delete the
: user profile she currently uses, and then empty the recycle bin.
:
: Questions:
: a. I have a feeling that I have missed some important files and
: folders - any suggestions??
: b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or
: should I find a software program that will overwrite all open
: spaces on the HD?? Seems like that I read somewhere there is some
: risk in using such programs???
:
: Any suggestions and help would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Sam.
:
:

 

[P. Johnson]

a. I have a feeling that I have missed some important files and
folders - any suggestions??

Format and reinstall. That'll destroy everything for sure.

b. Will a windows delete command be sufficient for the deletion or
should I find a software program that will overwrite all open
spaces on the HD?

Only dangerous if you want to keep the data on the disk. Go get a Knoppix
CD, open a terminal window, and type this:

$ sudo -s
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

/dev/hda assumes it's the first drive on the first IDE channel (hdb is
second drive, first channel, hdc is first drive second channel, etc.) That
will clear the drive to as blank as it was when it left the factory.

 

[P. Johnson]

Only YOU can increase readability!
http://ursine.ca/Top_Posting

Take the Hard Drive out and smash it into the sidewalk with a hammer !

The above procedure is guaranteed to work.

Not in this particular case. The user indicated they would like to resell
the machine, so anything destructive that would reduce the value of the
equipment is automatically right out.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Format and reinstall. That'll destroy everything for sure.

No, but it will protect most of the data from users of average skills....




--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell