How Can I Wipe My Hard Drive?

bluelass

I want to clear my hard drive of any info such as sites visited and old emails and conversations etc. Do I have to buy any disc or software or can it be done for free. And please can anyone tell me when you delete membership of a site how long do they keep you details like your email and IP address for.

Johnnytwostep

quick someone answer before the old bill turn up!!

pappa_golf

to complicated for me . this Linux stuff

esuhl

bluelass wrote: »

I want to clear my hard drive of any info such as sites visited and old emails and conversations etc.

If you want to delete everything on your hard drive, you could use Darik's Boot and Nuke.

http://www.dban.org/

If you want to delete things like browser history, cookies, temporary files, etc., then something like CCleaner should do (just don't use the registry cleaner component):

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

But bear in mind that certain techniques can be used to recover deleted data. Using the "clear unused disk space" (or whatever it's called) feature in CCleaner and defragmenting the drive should reduce the risk of that.

bluelass wrote: »

And please can anyone tell me when you delete membership of a site how long do they keep you details like your email and IP address for.

It depends entirely on the laws under which the website operates. In many countries there may be no requirement to remove any email and IP address details for you. In other countries, there may be laws forcing websites to retain this information to assist law enforcement or espionage.

Generally, you should assume that any information you have provided over the Internet cannot be removed. Even if it is removed from general public access, your data may remain on private databases, caching devices, etc.

bluelass

esuhl wrote: »

If you want to delete everything on your hard drive, you could use Darik's Boot and Nuke.

http://www.dban.org/

If you want to delete things like browser history, cookies, temporary files, etc., then something like CCleaner should do (just don't use the registry cleaner component):

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

But bear in mind that certain techniques can be used to recover deleted data. Using the "clear unused disk space" (or whatever it's called) feature in CCleaner and defragmenting the drive should reduce the risk of that.



It depends entirely on the laws under which the website operates. In many countries there may be no requirement to remove any email and IP address details for you. In other countries, there may be laws forcing websites to retain this information to assist law enforcement or espionage.

Generally, you should assume that any information you have provided over the Internet cannot be removed. Even if it is removed from general public access, your data may remain on private databases, caching devices, etc.

Surely these companies have to comply with data protection laws?.

pappa_golf

why not tell us what operating system , and more importantly which browser you use?

ChiefGrasscutter

Maybe (I speculate) the OP wishes to re-register on a forum site with a new username and is wanting to know how long to wait until that the site will have deleted their email/IP address details?
That would enable them to re-register as a "new" person and not be connected to their old persona.
All depends mind you on whether they have a static IP address, fully dynamic one or one of those "sort of sticky IP addresses".

I'm sure the websites will have some T&C which allows them to keep such data for a long as it is reasonably needed. And in terms of preventing someone creating a new persona on the same email address that might a very long time indeed.

esuhl

esuhl wrote: »

It depends entirely on the laws under which the website operates.

bluelass wrote: »

Surely these companies have to comply with data protection laws?.

Of course. But let's say the one of the companies and its servers are based in Indonesia. What data protection rights do you have under Indonesian law?

Are you confident that this would protect you:

In Indonesia, as of the date of this publication there is no general law on data protection. However, there are certain regulations concerning the use of electronic data. The primary sources of the management of electronic information and transactions are Law No. 11 of 2008 regarding Electronic Information and Trasactions (“EIT Law”) and its main implementing regulation, Government Regulation No. 82 of 2012 regarding Provisions of Electronic systems and Transactions (“Reg. 82”).

http://dlapiperdataprotection.com/#handbook/law-section/c1_ID/c2_GB

bluelass

No I don't want to rejoin any site under a different identity or have anything I might want to hide. I might be selling me current laptop to a friend and obviously don't want them to retrieve any bank details etc.

pappa_golf

OK , you are withholding info!!


dependent on your browser ALL passwords and history can be removed , also dependent on the machine and operating system a full factory restore can be done


that is plan a:


plan b: buy a new/second-hand hard drive and a copy of ???? (insert operating system) and throw your old drive in the fire

bluelass

pappa_golf wrote: »

OK , you are withholding info!!


dependent on your browser ALL passwords and history can be removed , also dependent on the machine and operating system a full factory restore can be done


that is plan a:


plan b: buy a new/second-hand hard drive and a copy of ???? (insert operating system) and throw your old drive in the fire

I am on windows 8 and I always use internet explorer and sometimes bing. I have MSN has my homepage if that helps. My laptop is a Toshiba satellite just under two years old. Also I have mcafee security installed.