Eraser

krafty_2

Does anyone know how to use eraser? I was told its a good program to clean your system prior to selling it (or deletin'sensitive data' on your system).
But it sounds ominous-as it deletes/erases everything...utterly confused.
Any ideas???

Mr_Skint_2

Well if you want to sell the machine do you want just the OS left on there?

krafty_2

not just the OS but few other utilities as well....does it clean up the whole system??

Mr_Skint_2

Well why dont you do a system restore, what OS do you have XP? or what.

krafty_2

Xp home...might do the system restore....never had to do this before...
thx for the tip. cheers

Mr_Skint_2

That would be factory restore not just a "system restore point" its where you pop
your XP disc in a start up and do a fresh install

2ax

I have downloaded it and used it a couple of times, just to see what it's like. There are options for 1, 3, 7, 35 passes.

There is a scheduler, or you can use it ad-hoc. You can delete files one or several at a time - you drag them into the program and highlight them, press a button

You can also use it to delete/overwrite the unused disk space, but I haven't done this yet - it looks like it would take a few hours on 35. That would certainly make sure that the files you had ordinarily deleted were not recoverable.

Or as a minmum, make sure you delete any personal and financial information this thoroughly.


Other programs have secure shredders like this - Spybot S&D, Sunbelt CounterSpy - some with up to seven passes, some more. But I'm not sure that those can overwrite the free space.

matty_c608

As with file recovey software I mentioned on another post, it is possbile to recover data!

Use the Evidence Eliminator Trial to secure un used space on a hard disk. Google for it. The program can over write data to Military standards. The full version costs a lot, $120, but if you're selling, install, secure, then un install.

And, at this time, when ID theft is rapidly rising, it is important to secure data! A report was done by some uni i think. They bought used hard drives from business systems, and recovered thousands of details - customer databases full of addresses and financial information. It's rather scary I think!

Be secure, and Good luck with selling the PC anyway!

buglawton

If you want to be genuinely secure, you need to

1. Use a proper tool to erase the hard disks, like http://www.killdisk.com/
There as several free tools about, but reading this one's website will explain the issue of security when disposing of a hard drive or PC.

2. Then reinstall Windows to make it more saleable. Regrettably, it means having to plough through re-applying the Service Packs and Updates. For example, if WinXP is reinstalled with no service packs or updates, it will be riddled with viruses pretty soon if used on the Internet.

krafty_2

thx for all the info guys..... :beer: :T

Quasar

On my old laptop (Window 98), I had so much stuff after 5 years of heavy use! I did save most things on floppies but there was much accumulated c**p on it which I no longer needed but was making it frustratingly slow.

Rather then spend a whole day going through the files and deleting them, and besides I was afraid of deleting some essential program by mistake, I did the recovery thing with the two Master CDs. Wiped out the whole system and reinstalled factory settings, then I reloaded my extra programs.

Took me about one and a half hour, but it was worth it.