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compound problem:
1. wife promised her old laptop to her friend
2. needs to do thorough security wipe of hdd to make personal information unrecoverable
3. she has long forgotten her access password
4. she lost the win xp installation cd
therein lies my entire conundrum
how would you computer geeks tackle the problem?
tia
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John Conley
Musica est vita
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john, i downloaded 'peppermint' now what? i need details please. and after installation, will credit card and banking information be truly unrecoverable?
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You reformat your hard drive when installing, nothing left on there.
On my laptop the only thing I had to do was enable networking, by clicking, but I've a different flavour.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Citaat:
You reformat your hard drive when installing, nothing left on there.
I'm afraid even a formatted harddrive can be restored. Don't ask me how, I'm not into IT all that deep anymore. There are programs to wipe a HDD clean by writing checker patterns on it. That means filling the HDD with a 01010101-pattern, then filling it with 1010101010, filling it with 01010101 etc. That way all the bits have flipped several times leavin no info at all on your HDD. I did a quick Google-search for you and came up with this one.
I have no experience whatsoever with this program, nor do I have any experience with this company. In other words I do not endorce this software. The provided link is just to show there are programs that deal with your problem.
Last edited by Mike sings; 01/10/11 03:48 PM.
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I'm not that paranoid. If you are giving the computer to a hacker oh well.
I don't agree that someone random is going to take your computer and spend a whack of time trying to get at your card info, and actually make some money from it.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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i agree that formatting DOES NOT DESTROY DATA it merely adds a unique character to the file header. an identity thief can recover everything on the drive in one fell swoop, unfortunately. this led me to read the various security algorithms used by military. some overwrite data with zeros followed by random numbers then repeat the whole process up to 27 times. it may take several days!
in the DOS era, you could look at "deleted" files in notepad, see the spurious changes, change them back to their original state (or province) and execute the file. also, there exist numerous "unformat" and recovery apps that will do an excellent job of recovering data even if it has already BEEN OVERWRITTEN!
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I will give my unused PC's and or laptops to people who need them more than I do. But I will remove the HDD or I will erased the HDD so that none of my info will ever be found again.
And I don't even have a creditcard...
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I have a credit card and intend on using it in Amsterdam around the first of May. My neighbours think me Dutch anyway, there are 300 bulbs in the front garden. Now if the squirrels didn't take some of them I'd have way more. I found one on the snow and the wife said, look the tulips are up! Darn squirrels.
Don did say his wife was giving the laptop to a friend.
What kind of friend is going to use the computer and steal your credit card number.
Now I suspect some enterprising person could write a script to copy a picture over and over until the hard drive was full, and then erase that.
My credit card number is not on the computer. It was entered once into Amazon, but I'm boycotting them now. They don't tell you a book is not available, they DO tell you your credit card is no good. I found out after they refused it 10 times, that the book is only available in the US at present so that is why they refused me. Morons.
Sounds whacked but just might work.
John Conley
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Quote:
"Don did say his wife was giving the laptop to a friend.
What kind of friend is going to use the computer and steal your credit card number."
john,
it's not the friend one has to concern over but someone stealing it from the friend. laptops are very popular rips among thieves and teens. btw, do you bank online?
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I do. I used to have it set up to email me whenever a transaction for over 300 bucks went through. Now that I sit in a chair alone most of the day I can check my accounts and investments on line. It's very exciting seeing the pension cheques drop in, I get goosebumps.
I only have one concern about theft of stuff. To my knowledge, in the 23 years I've lived at this location there has never been a break in on the street, and we only lock our doors when on vacation, otherwise it messes with possible insurance. But my son always comes over and signs a log book every other day for me, checking my freezer and basement for leaks etc.
I do not leave anything in my car, not even a quarter. I've heard of people at the shopping mall having windows smashed, never happened to me. The new mini has a cool screen thing that closes with the hatch and makes it look like there is no little trunk at all which is kind of cool.
I'm probably not paranoid enough. Someone probably will tap my maple tree and steal my sap. I have a good raspberry patch too..you think...wait, the dang robins, did you know that robins eat raspberries? I watched them. I think I was looking at a family of those vegan robins, won't eat worms.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Citaat:
I have a credit card and intend on using it in Amsterdam around the first of May.
Skip Amsterdam (well, the Rijks Museum IS worth your while!). DO be careffull for skimmers where-ever you go! If you happen to be in the Netherlands on May 7th, you and your traveling companions are invited on my 40th birthday party. That will be something, given the fact that I never did care a d*ck for my birthday anyway 
Whenever you visit the Netherlands you are welcome to coffee, tea, beer, whiskey or whatever's your poison. Just let me know and I will make sure I'm home to welcome you!
Last edited by Mike sings; 01/10/11 06:13 PM.
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Don, borrow a xp installation CD from a friend. Make sure it is the same version as the version you have that is home or Pro. This is ok as it is legal. Boot from the CD, format and install Windows. Don’t worry the just follow the prompts. If you are worried about someone stealing your information you may want to buy this program for $20 I have not used this but the docs look good. Good luck.
My goal this weekend is to move just enough each day so that no one pokes me to see if I'm dead or not.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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That's an interesting program, WipeDrive. The $40 version allows you to clean everything else but leave the operating system.
BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
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Mike, May 8, do you celebrate VE day in Europe? I know it's a holiday in the UK. We will probably be in Edinburgh on May 1. Then who knows. I just thought of something, our local member of parliament will give anyone going to Europe a 100 lapel pins, better go get some.
That would mean a party 2 days in a row. Cool. My doc thinks I'll be able to more or less walk ok by then, I'm getting there now, just started walking without a cane, but I ordered a nice one with a hidden attachment in the handle you screw off to make it a monopod for photography.
John Conley
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Jim
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I recently had to get rid of an old desktop computer. With my limited ability I removed the disk drive, and then I took Mac's good advice. I hit it with a BIG hammer 
Cheers,
Keith
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Quote:
I recently had to get rid of an old desktop computer. With my limited ability I removed the disk drive, and then I took Mac's good advice.
I hit it with a BIG hammer
Bingo. For extra security, get out your drill, some cutting oil, set it on kinda slow and watch the chips slowly fly - right through all the platters.
New hard drives nearly free these days.
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