i am giving my old laptop away and dont know how to remove my personal files so that they can not be regained?

Question

I got the laptop secondhand and have no disks to remove the files.
Im giving it to a friend and do not wish him to access my pics and other personal info? any help would be great. im a complete newbe so step by step would be fantastic. thanks

Answer 1

There was a brilliant article about this in this weeks Webuser mag, plus they listed the software you use to erase the date securely - formatting just doesn't do it. Issue 146
http://www.webuser.co.uk/

You use Eraser to create a boot floppy and use that to completely overwrite the hard drive; you cannot undo this so use with caution! There are instructions in the help file.

http://heidi.ie/eraser - Eraser file shredder
http://www.sys-shield.com - AbsoluteShield File Shredder

Answer 2

There is a program out there called "Absolute Sheild". As best as I understand it, It covers your deleted files with X's and O's, to prevent someone from viewing files that have been deleted. But as with any erase program, I wouldnt say the FBI couldnt still retrieve your Info.

Answer 3

Format

Answer 4

You can always reformat and reload Windows. But... that's a pain. There are dozens of freeware programs that can wipe your data beyond recovery (do a google search for disk wipe freeware). You delete your personal files, then use the software to wipe them. Essentially, they overwrite your deleted files with random data, then delete that.

Answer 5

Just keep all your porn on a stand alone external hard drive, then you never need to worry about issues like this.

A format should prevent all but the most dedicated anorak from accessing your old stuff.

Answer 6

loads of different ways, depending on what you do want them to have e.g. program wise... you could wipe the harddrive but that will bugger up the operating system.

you could systematically go into each program file and delete the memory. Would take a while though.

Answer 7

The only way to insure that nothing is left behind is to remove the hard drive. However there are some good programs on the ultimate boot cd.

Answer 8

You can reformat the harddrive or just delete the files but if someone has deep pc knowledge they can retrieve them.

Reformatting is the best answer or use your Recovery disc.

Answer 9

Reformat and burn all of the drives. I inherited my brother's labtop and I erased all of his data by reformationg everything. There was not much to reformat. It was pretty easy since he did a lot of work for me before he died.

Answer 10

this is a hard one.

your best bet would be to format your hard drive and re-install the opperating system. althought I can still retrive the files after several formats.

if you need more help, e-mail me