Cleaning up my Compnay PC before giving it back to them.

[Capesharks]

Good morning all. I am currently cleaning and backing up my personal stuff on the comapny pc. I was hoping for some advice on where to clean on the hdd... i mean, to clear out all my Msn account and yahoo details etc etc etc. plus whatever other places i should look... Thanks..

 

[rorz0r]

Format the thing. They will most likely reinstall everything on it anyway.

 

[Grouter]

Delete your account after setting up a new account called "user" or somesuch similar. Deleting the account gets rid of most personal stuff, as long as you never stored docs or pics or whatever in strange places like C:\ or in the Windows directory.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Download a small linux distro like Damn Small Linux and then nuke the contents with a "dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda"

 

[francoislr]

Windows XP = C:\Documents and Settings\Youraccountname
Windows Vista or 7 = C:\user\Youraccountname

That is your profile, all your my documents, details, emails and such goes in there, unless differently configured. If you can remove the user then, brilliant.

For that, log out, and try to log in as admin. Delete the user then.

 

[Herm]

Download Hirens Boot disk (http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd) on there you'll find active kill disk, use that on your drive, it might take a while but they won't be able to get hold of your data

 

[dotnerd]

if you really wanna be sure that not even the really skilled data recoverer's will be bale to get hold of ANY of your data.. then you need Darik's Boot and Nuke!

http://www.dban.org/

Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.

DBAN is a free software product that can be used at home or in a business at zero cost. The only official place to obtain DBAN is by download at this web site. We do not sell DBAN media.

happy destroying

 

[herbertk]

a little app called shredder that moves data around on the partition so you cannot use an app like restorer to recover the deleted data....

 

[Ry4n]

Windows XP = C:\Documents and Settings\Youraccountname
Windows Vista or 7 = C:\user\Youraccountname

That is your profile, all your my documents, details, emails and such goes in there, unless differently configured. If you can remove the user then, brilliant.

For that, log out, and try to log in as admin. Delete the user then.

Thats all that needs doing.

 

[ChilliGirl]

Remember even if you delete the info is still there, so if you dont want them to access your stuff on a later stage, complete reformat should be done, even if you do save all your data first, so that you have it.

 

[HavocXphere]

CCleaner is suitable for that afaik.

 

[Capesharks]

i'm not wanting to KILL the machine, nor format it. i just wanted some advice on place i should be looking for stuff that gets stored all over the place on the HDD... i will use the methods above tho to delete all the stuff on my home pc i am donating to Boys & Girls town tho... thanks guys

 

[francoislr]

Hehehe! Like I said, those profile paths covers all the default storage areas in windows, like My Documents, Music and Videos. Unless you saved something elsewhere, like specific folders on your C: drive, all should be there. Also your outlook details and so on is in that profile path.

People probably misunderstood the post and thought your company is out to get you, and you need to DESTROY all signs of you on that laptop. If you do, however, have sensitive info on the laptop, such as banking details or things that could infringe your privacy, I would say one can't be too careful. But I mean, we have lots of clients, and not once have we ever been requested to do data recovery for purposes to spy on anyone or recover their deleted files, except for once where the person in question stole over R2million over 3-4 years. Even then they got her jailed without anything we could provide. Tip, never steal from lawyers;-)