I have recently bought a new computer, which means I have my old one to sell.I already have a buyer, but what concerns me is how to completely clean my hard drive of 3 years worth of porn that I have amassed.The last thing I want is an angry parent kicking my door in because his 8 year old smart arse kid has just seen for the first time one of our lovely stars get DP'd!
I was thinking of just loading the recovery disk and hoping that it would do it for me, but I gather that this would not be enough as any deleted files might be recoverable by someone in the know.As you might have already gathered, I am not in the know, so any advice would be very much appreciated.
Regards, Rob.
O/T, but help needed.
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nidgie
Re: O/T, but help needed.
Not an expert on this, but I'm told that you can never really delete anything on the hard-drive - it's always there, and an expert could get it back.
Have you thought about buying a new hard-drive and installing it in the old PC? you could then piggy-back the old drive in your new machine (and get to keep your old pics, too) - new drives are (relatively) cheap these days
Have you thought about buying a new hard-drive and installing it in the old PC? you could then piggy-back the old drive in your new machine (and get to keep your old pics, too) - new drives are (relatively) cheap these days
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woodgnome
Re: O/T, but help needed.
this free utility should do the trick:
it's very simple to use.
when you delete something from your file system, it's a bit of a con, as nothing really gets deleted. it's simply no longer protected from something else being written over it.
consequently, a file you thought you'd trashed many moons ago, is still loitering on your h/d for some spotty herbert to retrieve when it's new owners take it to a repair shop.
actually, that probably isn't as likely as paranoia might lead you to think but for peace of mind it's worth going the extra mile.
it's very simple to use.
when you delete something from your file system, it's a bit of a con, as nothing really gets deleted. it's simply no longer protected from something else being written over it.
consequently, a file you thought you'd trashed many moons ago, is still loitering on your h/d for some spotty herbert to retrieve when it's new owners take it to a repair shop.
actually, that probably isn't as likely as paranoia might lead you to think but for peace of mind it's worth going the extra mile.
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joe king
Re: O/T, but help needed.
disk cleaners
get pgp
wipe the files you had
search for *.jpg;*.jpeg;*.png;*.gif files and delete/wipe them.
go to a dos prompt and wipe/delete
c:\windows\WIN386.SWP file.
go to ie explorer and menu tools/internet options, clear history, delete files button(check delete all offline files box and click okay button)
go to 'c:\windows\temporary internet files' select all then right click and press shift and choose delete in the menu.
format the drive (get format.exe on a floppy disc and start machine from dos and execute format c: (or whatever). Hoping you have a bootable cd drive then install the Operating system back on.
Anything I have forgotten?
get pgp
wipe the files you had
search for *.jpg;*.jpeg;*.png;*.gif files and delete/wipe them.
go to a dos prompt and wipe/delete
c:\windows\WIN386.SWP file.
go to ie explorer and menu tools/internet options, clear history, delete files button(check delete all offline files box and click okay button)
go to 'c:\windows\temporary internet files' select all then right click and press shift and choose delete in the menu.
format the drive (get format.exe on a floppy disc and start machine from dos and execute format c: (or whatever). Hoping you have a bootable cd drive then install the Operating system back on.
Anything I have forgotten?
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mike johnson
Re: O/T, but help needed.
There is a free utility called Eraser that wipes out stuff so that only an expert can recover it. I think you can get it at cnet/downloads, or other freeware sites.