How to delete all info on a PC to give away?

[drachillix]

@Dante

Deleting a user does not delete any of the data (ie. docs, excel sheets, emails, etc.).

Actually it should prompt you if you want to save this persons files or not. If you say no, it will batch delete everything stored in that user accounts document folders.

IF you do this create a new account with administrator rights first before nuking the old account, just to make sure there is still a working user account on the machine

[Dante]

@drachillix

Actually it should prompt you if you want to save this persons files or not. If you say no, it will batch delete everything stored in that user accounts document folders.

IF you do this create a new account with administrator rights first before nuking the old account, just to make sure there is still a working user account on the machine

Sorry, I should have said it does not delete ALL of the data. My bad.

[dracoi]

I always tell people to just fork over the $50 for a new hard drive and destroy the old one. It’s a cheap upgrade and provides the best security.

@Reply

In both situations, it depends on applications behaving according to Microsoft’s folder structures and location specifications. But it’s not foolproof. Some programs like to store data in their own special folders (sometimes out of the user’s home folder), such that removing a user and deleting their home directory may or may not remove all personally-identifiable information.

DBAN and reinstall is the safest way.

Anyway, I’m mostly posting because I wanted to provide an example of a program that does not follow the standard file placement procedures: QuickBooks. I’ve seen it before, too. Somebody carefully deletes everything from their documents folder and then hands the computer over. The QuickBooks company file gets left behind, though, and it has all kinds of unimportant things like social security numbers, bank account numbers, online banking access and payroll tax returns. Oh, and maybe customer credit card numbers, too.

It just goes to show that you simply cannot trust your ability to find every file that might have important information in it.

[bump]

A few years back, you used to be able to download an unregistered version of EnCase and use their forensic-grade disk wiping utility, but I don’t know if that’s still the case or not.

[Markxxx]

Is the OP trying to give a functional computer away? If this is the case, and the OP can’t reinstall the OS, then taking out the hard drive will also take out the OS.

It seems to me the easist way to do this is get a program that “shred files”

If you go to Snapfiles, you can get a list of free programs that do this

Then I would go back to Snapfiles and get a free program that “recovers deleted files” and see if you can get anything back? If you can you need to re-run the program or get another program.

Then I would go and change all my passwords on all my sites and if you want even call in your credit cards as being lost so you get a new number.

This should go a long way to eliminating any potential issues.

[drachillix]

@dracoi

I always tell people to just fork over the $50 for a new hard drive and destroy the old one. It’s a cheap upgrade and provides the best security.

Just a side note, if you are giving it to someone who cannot reload windows on their own they get a little bent when the gift comes with a need for $150 worth of parts and labor from a local PC shop.

[standingwave]

SystemRescueCd, a good tool to have in your bag-o-tricks anyway, has several wiping tools (such as shred and wipe) that ensure that files are really erased from the hard disk.

[Sapo]

@Markxxx

Is the OP trying to give a functional computer away? If this is the case, and the OP can’t reinstall the OS, then taking out the hard drive will also take out the OS.

Yep, that’s exactly the situation. He wants to give the computer away in working order and the installation disks are not available (not without spending money on an international FedEx). Taking out the HDD or even nuking it, from orbit or not, will defeat the objective of giving it in working order.

Since this will all happen in Venezuela, land of copyright infringement, maybe I can just have my dad, er, borrow some installation disks and do it right. Well, as right as an, er, borrowed install can go.

ETA: Can I count on a format and reinstall to go well and not mess up some device drivers? I know I was prevented from doing just that with another computer because it was going to require installation disks for the graphics card and who knows what else.

[GameHat]

DBAN is probably your best bet. Takes a while to run, but writes zeroes, then 1s, then random bytes to every sector on your HD. Probably the best thing past actually burning your hard drive.

That said, once it’s been DBAN’d, data is gone. I mean gone forever.

[BigT]

I don’t recommend reinstalling Windows anyways, unless you know how to go get all your drivers. You have to use your rescue CD or recovery partition.

But I’m surprised that a Windows XP computer doesn’t have a recovery partition. Are you sure it doesn’t? Because then wiping the hard drive, and pressing whatever key to get into the recovery would do everything you want.

[Palooka]

DBAN is for people who know that they need to use DBAN. DBAN + reload isn’t something you want to walk a person through over the phone.

Here’s what I’d do:

1. Delete everything in the user (My Documents) folder.
2. Delete everything in %appdata% (Accessed through Start -> Run)
3. Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove everything “sensitive”
4. Delete the sensitive program folders from C:\Program Files.
5. Delete everything in C:\ that isn’t Windows, Program Files, or Users (or whatever the XP defaults are)

Anyone who knows enough to get sensitive data after that isn’t going to get a 2nd generation donation box from an old guy.

Change “Delete” to “Delete with file shredder” if it makes you feel better.