Deleting History/clearing backlog - Help

Squirrel77

Hi all wonder if you can help. I have an old pc that I'm either thinking of selling (might not be worth much tbh) or will just bin but want to totally delete my old photo's, music (I had loads as I'm a dj), old web history - ie cards details, message board passwords etc. I've done the old delete history but are they then stored somewhere or are they totally wiped from the system??

Also have a year old laptop that I regulary clear the history/cookies/temp files but wondering if this is enough to keep the laptop clear and not be using up any space on the laptop?

Not too good with computers so any help would be appreciated.

mkaibear

If you have an old PC it will almost certainly not be worth selling.

I would remove the hard disk and hit it with a hammer a few times.

If you do manage to sell it I would advise a file destroying utility such as "Eraser" or "File Shredder" - have a look at (wwwdot)techsupportalert(dot)com(slash)best-free-secure-erase-facility(dot)htm

(replace the (dot)s with . and (slash) with a /)

Wipe the hard disk.

As for your laptop - you will always use space on the laptop with temporary and cache files, this is nothing to worry about, unless you start running out of space. How much free space do you have on your drive at the moment?

Squirrel77

The hammer option is probably the one I was going to go for anyway lol. Although it has a flat screen monitor which may raise a pound or 2!!

Not had any problems with the laptop regarding space but just wanted to keep it user friendly unlike my old pc that I left to build and build up. Am I best deleting the history say once a week? I only go on message boards, download music and put occassional photo's on.

As always wondered when you delete the history does it vanish of the laptop or is it stored somewhere?

Plarkster

Files can be recovered after being deleted and even after formatting, I always use http://www.dban.org/ when selling old hard drives. Make a boot floppy or cd, boot from it and it'll securely wipe your hard drive. Bear in mind that it can take some time depending on the size of the drive so probably best to leave it going over night.

Donnie

Use CCleaner for the laptop.

Format the PC and re-install the OS. You can put it on Freecycle or gift it to someone. Maybe an older person can use it to keep in touch with family.

If you have any sensitive information on the hard drive, you can use one of these utilities to delete all the information before reinstalling the OS. Don't bother with smashing the HDD. That is just a waste. Someone else may be able to make good use of something that you consider obselete.
How old is the PC?

Squirrel77

some good advice here, cheers guys. Its probably a good 8/9 years old. Ran great up until last year but think I maybe had a virus on it and/or had too much music/photo's on it and gradually slowed it down. I'd rather someone use it if they could, do my bit lol.

The_Grandmaster

If virus, run a full scan of malwarebytes and post a log on here and then post a log of hijack this. That will enable you to speed up the computer if the reason is a virus. See full instructions from alienRIK at the end.

Also, have you tried: the memory clean up listed here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849
The Cleanup memory leaks - http://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem I recommend from experience.

Finally can you not just remove the harddrive from old computer and put it in a caddy? (what do they call it?) and then you have an extra external harddrive! Also you could use the screen again if you connect it up (depending on size)!



The following instructions are from AlienRIK;

Download MALWAREBYTES (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ma..._anti_malware/
Open malwarebytes and goto UPDATE and click 'check for updates'. After its updated goto SCANNER and click PERFORM FULL SCAN then click SCAN
Remove everything thats found (needs to be ticked)
Post the COMPLETE log here AFTER youve deleted everything it finds

reboot

Download HIJACK THIS (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD THIS VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/2894/
Click MAIN MENU then DO A SYSTEM SCAN AND SAVE A LOGFILE(Takes seconds) then post the log so we can see whats running
(do NOT do anything else with Hijack but scan and post the FULL log)