hi all-

this isnt really a problem but my friend and i were having a "geek" coversation and we was talking about your internet history that when you click "clear history and temprarly files" if the computer really does clear your history and files or if it just says that it does but just really hides it somewhere else

just wonderin

thanks
....AMD

The only real way to clear any type of files is to use a hard drive utility, that writes zeros all over the hard drive. About three full overwrites should be about enough.

Of course physically destroying the hard drive would also have the same effect.

Clearing the history does actually clear the files, but they could possibly be recovered.

Regards Howard

I am using a utility called CCleaner and it says that it removes

TEMP files
Cookies
History
URLS
index.DAT files
Download location
Autocomplete history
recent documents
run (in start menu)
search assistance
explorer MRUs

SYSTEM:
Recylce bin
TEMP files
clipboard
RAM Dumps
log files
prefetch DATA

is this utility just doing the same as windows process or is it actually "deleting" the stuff off the disk

what do you mean by "destroying" the hard drive does that mean reformatting the drive and wiping it clean then re-installing windows and the other apps???

Yes, Ccleaner does actually delete the stuff.

But there is still a possibility that these files could be recovered, if someone really wanted to do so.

Regards Howard

What I meant by physically destroying the hard drive, was something like actually opening the drive and destroying the platters with a big hammer lol.

Regards Howard

the reason im asking all these questions about privacy, is that im seling my computer and i wanted to protect all my confidential information, and i was wondering if i do a "full-destructive restoration" if it deletes all this information so that the future user wont be able to recover it and gain acces to it

PLEASE HELP

What you need to do is use a hard drive utility that will write zeros all over the drive, including the boot sector. As I said earlier about three complete passes should do it. Then, reformat the drive.

You can find a list of hard drive utilities HERE.

Regards Howard

thank you for all your help howard hopkinso and had one more question it says that "all data will be lost on a 'low level' format" and i was wondering if that just meant user data or everthing (OS, Drivers, etc)

thank you
....AMD

A low level format will get rid of everything, including Os, drivers etc.

Regards Howard

to keep your internet history secure, you should delete index.dat. it has the list of all the sites you visit. i recommended unlocker to force delete the file.

BCWipe works well also but takes a long time.
http://www.jetico.com/

i am currently using two products: CCleaner, and PurgeIE, to do the job, PurgeIE does not delete the index.dat files but CCleaner claims to delete them i have "secure file deletion enabled with NSA standards (7 overwrites)" I didnt know if this was doing the same job as the other ones that fastco and altheman have reccomned

thanks for the help
...AMD

CC cLeaner does NOT. The others do..

this is a question for howard, as he told me the CClean does infact delete the index.dat files, but others tell me that it does not. i have the NSA standard enables which overwrite the files 7 times with random didgits

I said

I didn`t mention .dat files.

I agree with fastco, on that.

Since you are selling the computer, just do a low level format and everything should be fine.

Regards Howard

well i only have the recovery cds that i burned myself and im not sure if the system will boot from them once "EVERTHING" is erased

Ah, I see your problem, or possible problem.

I`ve never used a recovery cd, so I`m not sure what the limitations are.

However, someone here will be able to tell you, no doubt.

Regards Howard

should i contact the manufacturer for the DVD they burnt themselves, because on my other system, it came with a bootable DVD and it says they will provide them for a $20.00 charge