[donaldcrowhurst]

Hi

I am selling my laptop and having a job getting rid of everything on the HD.

Ive not had any sensitive documents on there so there so I am wondering whether it is possible for someone to view any of my internet history/passwords etc if I do not format the HD at all?

thanks in advance

[Mhouser]

If you are concerned for someone using an undelete program to retrieve your old files CCleaner has a freespace wiper.

Rewrites data on the part of your hard drive thats not being used, 3 pass selection will prevent any deleted files from ever being retrieved.

[donaldcrowhurst]

That sounds good, I will look into it..

thanks for the info

[donaldcrowhurst]

Does the freespace wiper require a HD format (and then you run the freespace wiper) ?

[Mhouser]

No, I am running it on my system now look like takes about 1min per GB.
Edit: way off here, typical M$ cant give an accurate estimate time. Clearing 35GB of Freespace current estimate 2 Hrs.

[donaldcrowhurst]

sorry, I'll ask a different question:

If I delete my history/docs etc and then run the freespace wiper, will this mean those files are no longer retrievable?

thanks

[Mhouser]

You may need to clear your recycle bin first. After that run space wiper. They will be un-retrievable.

[donaldcrowhurst]

Great, thanks

[valis]

Originally Posted by Mhouser

You may need to clear your recycle bin first. After that run space wiper. They will be un-retrievable.

Not really......pretty sure that CCleaner isn't even DoD certified, and very doubtful for a three pass zero fill.

That said, it's going to take a LOT of know-how and more than a couple bucks to retrieve it. If all you are worried about is internet passwords, you should be more than safe.

[donaldcrowhurst]

ok thanks. Ive got rid of everything and now doing a 3 pass wipe with CC. I dont think there has been any documents on there with passwords or sensitive info, its just internet passwords

[Snagglegaster]

Originally Posted by donaldcrowhurst

ok thanks. Ive got rid of everything and now doing a 3 pass wipe with CC. I dont think there has been any documents on there with passwords or sensitive info, its just internet passwords

"Just Internet passwords" that could be associated with online banking or some such? Do you use the same username and passwords repetitively, so that someone with access to this data might log in to some eCommerce sites and spend some of your money for you? At the minimum, you should at least use a utility like Dban to clean the drive, but the only truly secure method of protecting your data is to destroy the drive.

[valis]

absolutely agree, snaggle.......that said, think all they want to do is wipe the my docs part and go from there......

THAT said, if they have the install disk, may as well just reformat the dang thing.

[Ent]

Originally Posted by valis

Not really......pretty sure that CCleaner isn't even DoD certified, and very doubtful for a three pass zero fill.

Obviously I can't see what's going on on the inside, but just based on what it says it does...
Well, look at the picture.

[valis]

cool........didn't know it was.

Still don't trust it, however.

[Mhouser]

There is this bit of information about Drive Wiper from CCleaner's own site.

Wipe Free Disk Space limitations

CCleaner can't wipe every deleted file from your free disk space. There are some limitations, because of the way Windows stores some files. Here are some examples:
The file has been overwritten by another file (so no need to overwrite this again)
The file had been overwritten by another file before you ran CCleaner, but the second file has now been deleted as well.
The file was created almost exactly when you ran CCleaner.