I need to make sure my daughters computer is free of filth?

Question

I have bought a secondhand computer for my daughter, it's quite new but i am affraid of what the previous owner has been using it for. What software would you recomend to rid it completely of all previous website activity. new or downloadable(free). Thanks

Answer 1

Well, that is all but impossible to do, at least for long. Depends on the brand you get, more than anything.

If you get the Mac, which cost as little as PCs these days, there is a parental control feature with it. Also, it has less problems than a lot of other brands of personal computers for some reason.

Several other things can lead to receiving spam:

1. giving email address to any company; some are unscrupulous and sell the name/email info, even if they promise they will not and even if it is a children's website

2. sending (receiving) an email to (from) a friend whose personal computer has been possessed by zombie drug lords - or whatever - will give the zombie people her email address

3. posting a message to a newsgroup will give away the email address (Google Groups has a way to shield email addresses from spammers eyes, so it might be a way she can participate in discussion groups without getting spam)

Basically, a reality is that if you use the Internet and you have an email address that you use - you will get spam.

If you do not live in the US, you can probably sue spammers, if you have the money to do so. I am not a lawyer, so I am not saying you should.

In the US, not very long they passed a law called CAN-SPAM, which has a pretty accurate name. That law takes away your write to sue spammers who send you or your kid spam. Your ISP can sue them, but they do not have to do so.

The only way to tell the spammers to stop, is to confirm your email address is correct - but you do not want any more spam.

As you might guess, that does not make most of them stop. It might even make the email address worth more when they sell it on the next email address list they pawn to their spammer friends.

What you can do to try to clean the existing leftover files from the previous owner it to clear the cache for the web browser application(s) on the computer. That is in "View > Internet Options" for IE and then look through all the tabs on the dialog box and eventually you find it.

With Firefox, which is designed really well for this maneuver, do the following:

1. In "File" menu, select the "Preferences..." command.
2. In the resulting dialog box, click the "Privacy" icon then click the following buttons in the following tabs:
a) "History" tab: click "Clear Browsing History Now" button
b) "Saved Forms" tab: click "Clear Saved Form Data Now" button
c) "Download History" tab: "Clear Download History Now"
d) "Cookies" tab: "Clear Cookies Now"
e) "Cache" tab: "Clear Cache Now"

You will probably find Firefox a little easier to control the behavior of than IE, at least for now. It has a couple features that block those kind of off-color annoyances that you would find irksome.

Firefox has a "Block Popup Windows" checkbox on the "Content" tab. That is a big help. You never really know what is going to pop up on a page, if you give every page in the world free reign over your browser Windows. This way, you can basically hear those puppies scratching at the door, and decide on a case by case basis if you want to let them in or not. There will be a little visual indicator when they try to pop up but are being held back.

If you get the current version of Firefox (1.5 or later) it can check to see if it needs an update to a new version. Then it can either download it automatically, or inform you and ask for permission to download the update (Preferences > Advanced > Update).

Either way, the download goes really fast - because nowadays Firefox is smart enough to only download the parts that have changed.

As for controlling the spam that arrives via email, use an email program that includes a really good spam-blocker. Thunderbird comes from the same group that made Firefox, the Mozilla team.

Like Firefox, Thunderbird is totally free. People who are programmers and are curious, can even get the original source code for the programs so they can look them over and report bugs or suggest/attempt improvements. Seems to be working pretty well for them. They came from nowhere a couple years ago, to version 1.0 a year and a half ago, to version 1.5 - which is really feature packed and powerful - a little over half a year ago.

Set up Junk Mail filters for your daughter's account with that, and she will not have to look at the spam, she can just delete it. Or, you can check every evening or two, and do it for her.

As for any software that could be lurking on the computer from the last owner, hopefully you have a Mac not some other brand. In either case, you can try to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS. Hopefully, he gave you the OS CDs and all the software application/utility installation CDs. If not, well, you are going to be out some software.

The Mac OS only costs $129. The Windows XP OS costs $299.

Answer 2

Fairly simple. Try these hands on maintainences procedure that wouldn't cost u a single dime!

First to get rid of existing "filth" that are may have been downloaded, do a search. Go launch search for files & folders. Select search for Pictures, Music and Videos.

When located, select view as thumbnails. Sift through the lot and see if you can find any "filth" in pic or mpg format.

If the browser installed is Mozilla Firefox, select Tools_Options_Privacy. Click on clear on all catergories of history listed. In Explorer select Tools_Internet Options_General. Select History_Type 0 in the box for days to clear history. Close, relaunch.

Clear all Bookmarks entries in Mozilla, Favourites in Explorer.

If you want to spend a few dollars try Windows System Optimizer. It has a section for managing Explorer cookies, history and recenty visited sites. You can delete the lot! You can run WSO trial period.

Install Net Nanny when all done.

Answer 3

With a new(used) box, there are several things you can do and SHOULD do. First, don't know what version Windows you have, but it will help if you can use "explorer" and I like to have it on the desk top in the top left corner, under that, my computer and under that the recycle bin. Any thing else is personal pref.With every Win. ver. xcept XP, that is a simple task. R/click on desktop, click on shortcut,browse, Windows, and find "explorer.exe" (with XP use My computer to get there).
Then, with explorer, you can look at everything you want to. The first thing is look at windows/temp folder, history folder, cookies folder and the tempery internet folder. Empty them all. Then use your "find" command and type in "*.jpg" (hard to read, star dot jpg)
That will barf up all "jpg" files on the Hdisc. Most porno would be a jpg format picture. That should give you a start. My answer would be too long for further ideas so may find way to get that to you later. Hope this helps. ( other ideas ref. to protections).

Answer 4

Hopefully the person you bought the computer from gave you the install CD. Do a clean install of the OS, or if it's internal restore, restore the PC back to factory specs.

Answer 5

The only way to be sure would to be use the recovery disc which came with the computer and would erase the Hard drive and restore it to original condition. If You dont have one bring it to a computer repair store.

Answer 6

Get a parental control installed on the computer. Don't ever trust a kid when they said that they will not go to ant site that is not allowed, because they will

Answer 7

To get rid of all spyware/adware you can use spyware doctor. Or uses microsofts free antispyware beta.