Seriously, we’re inheriting a teenager’s desktop which will be put to use by the younger members of our family. I’m pretty sure any normally curious youngster has ventured around some of the more [ahem] interesting regions of the internet (I know I would’ve if it’d been available to me back in the '60s. Much easier than filching Dad’s playboys ). As such, I’d like some advice on clearing cache’s, browser history, etc. before I put this compter in service in the family room. Windows XP (home), and Internet Explorer (7, I think). I don’t know exactly what level of malware protection has been employed, but as near as I can tell, it seems to be just spybot and spysweeper. We’re not in the “Won’t Someone Please Think of…” camp, but would like to avoid any unexpected surprises for the young 'uns.
Open IE and click on Tools and go down to Internet Options. Under where it says Browser History, click delete and then delete all. That will remove cookies, temporary files, clear the history and the autocomplete address bar function.
Might be an idea to search the local disk for all picture and movie files. I think XP has a search filter for “All movie and pictures”. If not look for *.jpeg, *.jpg, *.bmp, *.avi, *.mpg, *.xvid, *.mov and *.divx. That will cover the majority of file types. Remember to check them before you delete - some of the Windows system folders contain files of these types which are needed.
Finally, when you’ve done all this go to Start -> Programs -> System Tools and run defrag a couple of times. Good as new!
most of the graphics file you are looking for will be cleared when you purge internet temporary files. Something else I do is dial the internet temp storage down to 20-30mb or so, that way you don’t have a huge pile of graphics doing no good anyway.
Was the first kid using a username to log in, or just the Administrator account?
I do believe if you create a new account (Start - Settings - Control Panel - User Accounts), everything is completely “fresh” for the new user. Cache is clean, My Documents is clean, etc*.
If the first kid was using Administrator without a password, assign Administrator a password and don’t let Jr. know it. If the original kid was using another account (which you can see in the User Accounts section), you can delete it.
*Note this does NOT mean the computer itself is “clean.” Any spyware or viruses on the machine will remain. This is just a fresh user, not a fresh machine.
CCleaner is an excellent free tool for getting rid of all sorts of computer history.
It will not only clear the cache and browsing history of your browsers, but will also clear all temp files, as well as things like the recently opened file menu from MS Office and other programs.
In addition, it comes with a good registry cleaner that will clear your registry of the extra keys and entries that get left over when you do stuff like uninstalling programs.
Thanks so much for your help everyone. I’m not too familiar with MS products (mainly use Unix at work). Almost never use IE. In answer to ZipperJJ, 1st user was admin. I’ll do all your suggestions, and this should allow a “fresh” start for the new users.
Switch to another browser, such as Firefox from Mozilla. If you are worried about the content your family will see now that they are using this PC, having Firefox is great, because it is better at blocking pop-up ads, and it is less likely to be ‘hijacked’ by malware that redirects your searches to porn sites, or programs that redirect your home page or pop all sorts of nasty stuff.
). As such, I’d like some advice on clearing cache’s, browser history, etc. before I put this compter in service in the family room. Windows XP (home), and Internet Explorer (7, I think). I don’t know exactly what level of malware protection has been employed, but as near as I can tell, it seems to be just spybot and spysweeper. We’re not in the “Won’t Someone Please Think of…” camp, but would like to avoid any unexpected surprises for the young 'uns.