(Vanity)Tech question for Win98(Vanity)

01/01/2006 | me

[JoeSixPack1]

DOS 5 with 'Quick Menu'! :-)

[No Longer Free State]

If you don't want the files to be recovered - ever - hit it with a sledge hammer several times, then run over it with a steam roller, whack the bits with a baseball bat, and burn the remains in a steel smelter.

[PAR35]

or sell it sans operating system.

Smarter still would be to sell it sans hard drive. Hard drives are cheap, and easy to install.

[rock58seg]

I never could remember all the DOS commands. Have to look then up on the net just to remember what to use, when I want to do some registry work. Threw out all my books long ago. Thought I would never need to type a DOS command again. Fool that I am.

I just don't understand everyone's problem with wiping disc's and Hard Drives clean, I seem to be able to do it just by deleting spam E-mail.

[July 4th]

Bingo. That's just the program I was going to suggest.

[flashbunny]

"The original question was not in regards to permenant data erasure."

See the initial post:

"she doesn't want the new people to have any of her old files"

I guess what that means must depend on the definition of the word 'is'. Or something.

"So put it back in your pants and stay on topic."

So because you can't comprehend basic english and don't know jack about data scrubbing you have to resort to petty little attacks?

[perfect stranger]

bump

[goldstategop]

Older computers won't be able to run Windows XP. However, a Linux OS like Xandros or Linspire would be perfect and they're as stable as XP, thanks to their UNIX foundation. Plus, no spyware and viruses to worry about!

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[jokar]

bump

[sionnsar]

My advice for you is to upgrade to Windows XP Professional.

That might be pretty heavyweight for a machine that originally ran Win98.

[Vision]

Older computers won't be able to run Windows XP. However, a Linux OS like Xandros or Linspire would be perfect and they're as stable as XP, thanks to their UNIX foundation. Plus, no spyware and viruses to worry about!

Yeah, but Linux is for commies:D

[birbear]

thanks

it says: This downloads an ISO IMAGE (not a regular file) that needs to be burned to the CD AS AN IMAGE (not as an added file).

I'm not familiar with burning an image on a CD... how is that done?

[Scoutmaster]

There are a number of scrubbing programs. One of the best is Cyberscrub (www.cyberscrub.com).

It erases files beyond recovery (exceeds US Department of Defense 5220.22), and secures your sensitive data with strong encryption. It is used by many federal agencies, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, and is VIA Padlock certified.

If you feel the Department of Defense seven-pass method isn't secure enough, this program's options permit a thirteen-pass method (three random passes, the DOD seven-pass method, and three random passes), and a 35-pass method based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory". The Gutmann method is designed to erase data regardless of the disk raw encoding. It effectively removes the magnetic remnants from disk, preventing hardware recovery tools from restoring any data.

Every review I've read on CyberScrub gives it perfect ratings. It isn't cheap ($50), but the price reflects the quality of the program.

[Northern Alliance]

Smarter still would be to sell it sans hard drive

If the data was extremely confidential, yes, although very few people or even agencies can recover data that has been securely wiped, which was a suggestion from many on the thread, so it is kind of overkill for most people. Then a lot of buyers might be leering of purchasing that way, not understanding how easy it is to pick up a hard drive and install it.

[PAR35]

Then a lot of buyers might be leering of purchasing that way

Desktops aren't worth very much anyway by the time most folks are ready to upgrade. You have a point as to laptops.

[Northern Alliance]

Desktops aren't worth very much anyway by the time most folks are ready to upgrade

The poster asked about the best way to delete their personal files. Your opinion is to remove parts which someone else would have to replace before they could use it, and don't worry if that means they cannot sell it or another person can't use it that way because it is not worth much anyway. Okay. It's not mine, that's all.

[Blue Highway]

I know someone who would buy that for $50.00.

[Cyber Liberty]

I agree. If she's that paranoid, she should just blow it up. Half a stick and an acre of property will do the job.

[Petronski]

There is no way Windows ME is more stable than Win98.

WinME is the worst version Microsoft has produced a dozen years.

[Petronski]

As I understand it, a low-level format of an IDE drive will destroy it. I would FDISK, FORMAT, run a disk scrubber with DoD-class security, then FDISK, FORMAT and install Win98 from scratch.