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andy

andy

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Anyone know of a decent deep clean software for free ...

and before you ask it is not to get rid of evidence of filth (altough that is an added benefit :unsure: ) ... I am finally going to throw the desk top out as we are all laptop users now and I want to give it away to a charity or school or something but I am afraid of what secrets maybe held within as the family have been using it for banking/payments and allsorts of online activity over the years.

 
If I use it on my computer, can I be sure it won't remove documents etc that I need?

 
It depends on what you want to clear. You can just do browser if need be or system start up, registry, etc.

The only thing you need be careful with mostly is if sorting the start-up programmes (what automatically starts with computer). If you are delete-happy in that screen, you could be removing some vital window files.

Generally though, its easy to use and really does clear up the system.

 
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If you're selling/giving away your computer, CCleaner isn't going to wipe your computer. It wipes certain files, yes, but it's far less effective than even doing a plain old format of your C: drive.

What Cassiya suggests is the way to go. It's not fool proof by any means, but it wipes it, then rewipes, and again. Which makes it very difficult to retrieve any data... not impossible, but difficult. If you're really worried, just take the hard drive out. It'll reduce the value, but it'll mean there's no way for your data to be stolen.

 
I got the impression he wanted to just delete old cache files and history etc, not to remove windows or programmes.

 
Mod said:
I got the impression he wanted to just delete old cache files and history etc, not to remove windows or programmes.
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I thought he was selling/giving away his computer. To not wipe it, is foolish. It's one of the most common ways for identity theft to happen.

 
if i was him i would definately wipe any pc i was giving away. Eraser is a good programme but i always use dban which is a bootable cleaner.

 
Eggy McMuffin said:
I thought he was selling/giving away his computer. To not wipe it, is foolish. It's one of the most common ways for identity theft to happen.
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Without Windows it would be useless to anyone?

I've never heard identity theft via Windows programme files before?

 
Mod said:
Without Windows it would be useless to anyone? I've never heard identity theft via Windows programme files before?
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every file you delete can be grabbed back until you do a proper clean, and i mean every file. all you need is the HDD nd you can connect to it and rip it apart.

 
Mod said:
Without Windows it would be useless to anyone? I've never heard identity theft via Windows programme files before?
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No, it's more that deleting them in Windows doesn't properly delete them... you can easily recover the data, through simple system recovery tools. These tools, like DBAN or Eraser, wipe the data, write over it, wipe it and repeat for a certain amount of times... It makes data recovery much, much harder, and the simple tools you can easily find, won't work.... they're the ones your average crook looking for info on you would most likely use... if they're more advanced, that won't work. The top end ones, are so advanced that you'd have to write over it a few thousand times for it to stop them. These can only really be stopped, by destroying the HDD by hand, with a shredder, a hammer, setting fire to it or something like that. Which is what businesses use.

Oh and surely they'd have the windows disk? Or at least A windows disk, if not, whoever buys it would have one, or if it's a charity shop, they'd have one too. In fact it's free for a charity shop.

DKW - That was probably far more succinct.

 
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So you're telling me, if I access my bank online and clear cache in Firefox and use ccleaner, someone could still gain my info if I don't reformat my drive if I get rid of computer?

something but I am afraid of what secrets maybe held within as the family have been using it for banking/payments and allsorts of online activity over the years.
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That's what andy asked for and ccleaner sorts that job out.

 
Mod said:
So you're telling me, if I access my bank online and clear cache in Firefox and use ccleaner, someone could still gain my info if I don't reformat my drive if I get rid of computer?
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No, I'm telling you that even if you do reformat your drive, you won't be entirely protected. These programs which have been suggested do more than just format it once.

Anyway, I'm not sure what you know of file systems, but the way they work, is that there is a list of directories with where the data is located on the hard drive, and the data itself. When you delete something in Windows, it deletes the directory, not the actual data. This is why it's still recoverable. That includes CCleaner. When you format the drive, it deletes both... however it still leaves artefacts within the hard drive, which can still be read by modern programs. So you need to write over the top of the artefacts, then wipe it. Doing this a couple of times makes it very difficult to recover it.

I'm probably going round in circles here, but I think it's quite important that I fully explain this sort of stuff.

 
I have no idea what way he is going about reformats, etc.

He asked for something to clear online activity which I assumed ccleaner will do. I was unaware that all activity is still stored within the computer, that sort of renders it useless then.

Sorry Andy.

 
Mod said:
I have no idea what way he is going about reformats, etc.He asked for something to clear online activity which I assumed ccleaner will do. I was unaware that all activity is still stored within the computer, that sort of renders it useless then.

Sorry Andy.
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CCleaner isn't useless, it's great for getting a bit more space on your hard drive when you need it, but I wouldn't trust it when it comes to someone having access to the actual hard drive is all. Especially if you've done banking on it. Obviously, the risk isn't massive, because the computer actually has to go into the hands of someone who knows what to do, and wants to do some thieving, but I wouldn't like to risk it, myself... despite not having enough money for it to be worth it for them. :P

 
Thanks all

most of this completely over my head ! :-) .. just worried about the identity theft and other scare mongering that goes on we have 4 family members used it for online banking, paypal, credit cards you name it over the years….. I just noticed that no matter how much manual cleaning I did, certain forms on the internet still autofill and storing history in various searches etc..

not selling, going to give away. seems like possibly the best cleaner to use is a hammer,however none of us can really know what details of ourselves is out there !

 
andy said:
Thanks allmost of this completely over my head ! :-) .. just worried about the identity theft and other scare mongering that goes on we have 4 family members used it for online banking, paypal, credit cards you name it over the years….. I just noticed that no matter how much manual cleaning I did, certain forms on the internet still autofill and storing history in various searches etc..

not selling, going to give away. seems like possibly the best cleaner to use is a hammer,however none of us can really know what details of ourselves is out there !
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if you dont mind spending a little bit of money you could always just buy a cheap HDD and smash your old one if your worried at all.

 
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