Securely clearing data, but leaving an OS?

[Strell]

This has probably been asked before, but what's the best way of going about making sure a computer you're about to get rid of will have no personal data left behind to be exploited?

I know I could run some apps that fully delete everything and randomly write false data over it a number of times to ensure nothing is left, but that means removing Windows and ending up with a blank computer. I'm trying to keep XP on it - it's an old machine going to a family member, and while I know they wouldn't do anything sketchy, I don't want anything left behind so that they don't endanger me through proxy. In other words, I don't want them to get viruses and so forth and have it bite me in the ass later on.

Is there a way to do this? Or am I really just stuck with pulling a full format/reinstall from scratch?

Thanks!

[Puppetpallmich]

format and reinstall unless ur computer has a recovery partition. recovery partition is usually put on the hard drive by the company u bought it from. Toshiba does not do this, they give u recovery discs instead, but tons of other companies do use a partition. if u built it urself i think u can do a recovery on some types of xp discs that does a destructive recovery. pop one in and see.

[WhipSmartBanky]

This has probably been asked before, but what's the best way of going about making sure a computer you're about to get rid of will have no personal data left behind to be exploited?

I know I could run some apps that fully delete everything and randomly write false data over it a number of times to ensure nothing is left, but that means removing Windows and ending up with a blank computer. I'm trying to keep XP on it - it's an old machine going to a family member, and while I know they wouldn't do anything sketchy, I don't want anything left behind so that they don't endanger me through proxy. In other words, I don't want them to get viruses and so forth and have it bite me in the ass later on.

Is there a way to do this? Or am I really just stuck with pulling a full format/reinstall from scratch?

Thanks!
I doubt you're going to get anything with that write/rewrite level of security and still leave the OS. Maybe Spybot's file shredder, if you know exactly what you want to delete.

It's probably worth the effort to blank the drive, run a multi-pass low-level formatting utility, and then reformat and reinstall the OS. It'll probably work better for them that way, anyhow, and you'll feel better about it.

[Strell]

That's what I figured. I'll just go that route then, put everyone at ease.

[n25philly]

I believe the government standard for making sure a drive is clean is to reformat it 7 times. I forget the number though, so it might be even more.

[dothog]

I believe the government standard for making sure a drive is clean is to reformat it 7 times. I forget the number though, so it might be even more.
Saw an article online a couple months ago that said recovering data from a drive that's been wiped just once is highly improbable.

Here it is...
http://www.h-online.com/news/Secure-deletion-a-single-overwrite-will-do-it--/112432

I still do 4 or 5 of rewrites just because I'm paranoid. Eraser's the way to go, and it's free:
http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

[jarvis307]

hi strell. if you have cygwin installed you can use the shred function to overwrite/delete files. i have my OS/binaries on one partition and all my files on another so i can just do something like shred /cygwin/d/* or so. if you have them all in a specific folder like "my documents" or "desktop", you can do the same. there's other things to consider of course like your browser cache/cookies, registry, and whatever logs.

if you're looking for a tool to do all of this, i've used this before:
http://www.ccleaner.com/

[Wolfkin]

check out some Windows utilities. I remember there used to be a program (if i recall correctly) that you could use to 'grab' your install updates and everything and make an install CD from it. If you can do that it would make restoring windows much less of a hassle.

[seen]

Eh, windows should do the trick; when in doubt use swissknife to reformat.

[Strell]

Thanks for the additional replies everyone.

Hiya jarvy - I actually used CCleaner to fix someone's computer last weekend. It was running slow and had malware and whatnot, and that was one of the programs I used to speed it up and get it working again. Nice program, definitely.

I ended up running DBAN to nuke the entire drive and it's currently reinstalling XP. That'll work well enough for me. I gotta look more into the partition idea - I always shied away from it because I figured it would cause issues for me, but maybe it's something to try out. I might bug you about that more, jarvis.

Thanks again everyone!

[Legionce]

Depending on the type of the computer there is a restore to factory default option built in, it deletes EVERYTHING except for the OS and things that were given to you from the factory (99% of all drivers are kept, the OS is kept) all data that was put into the computer after you turned it on for the first time is deleted.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=143137 is a link to almost every make of computer and how to do it, I've done it a few times on a few pc's :).

Edit: Gah my bad didn't fully read the last post, but it's good information if you ever need to use it in the future.

[Gspoon]

DBAN FTW

also
Peter Gutmann aka the gutmann method
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gutmann_%28computer_scientist%29)
for the porn connoisseur

More read 3rd paragraph (http://people.bakersfield.com/home/ViewPost/20707)

[Strell]

Tiny update, just in case anyone is interested.

DBAN works like a charm. I love that program. Going to have to throw a few bucks that dood's way.

On his site, he had linked to something called Heidi Eraser. (http://www.heidi.ie/node/6) This might be what I was originally looking for - it says it can wipe free space inside Windows. Jarvis had suggested CCleaner, which claims to do the same thing, so maybe there is indeed a way to securely overwrite data a few times inside an OS.

I doubt this'll interest most people, but Target has clearanced out a lot of 128 MB USB drives for three bucks. I picked up a few and now they are my personal DBAN army. I know, not very exciting, but I like to be able to have access to such things instantly wherever I am, and this is a good cheap solution. Just a heads up.

[dothog]

On his site, he had linked to something called Heidi Eraser. (http://www.heidi.ie/node/6) .
d00d you totally ignored my linkie above. arrgh! <mad face and exploding head here>

[Strell]

:[

My white beret/mustache combo blinded me.