Number 219 - August 2001
Wiping a Computer Clean
Takes More Than Hitting 'Delete'
by Bob Withers, GANNET NEWS SERVICE
as seen in Tacoma News Tribune Feb 19, 2001
    BE CAREFUL: Experts can resurrect files, personal information from donated machines thought emptied

    You wouldn't throw down a billfold or purse stuffed with currency and credit cards on the sidewalk and go off and leave it, would you?

    Then you'd better be careful how you donate that old PC that just got replaced by the new one.

    First, be sure to delete all files. But even then, a file you think is gone may be retrievable by a computer forensics expert, a determined colleague or your teenage son or daughter.

    Last year, a Minneapolis television station bought several old computers at thrift shops and took them to experts at On-Track to see what they could find. On-Track fired up one machine.

    "We found all their finances, all their credit card numbers, wills for their parents and a manuscript the gentleman was writing about love and the married man," said OnTrack's Jennifer Zeller.1

    Jonathan Jackson, part owner of Tri-Comp Consulting Inc. in Huntington, W. Va., said he has seen a lot of customers who have purchased old computers at flea markets and want them wiped clean.

    "Mostly, we find porn," he said. "Porn that men were trying to hide from wives, kids or parents."

    Remember that when you delete a file, you're not making it go away. Instead, your computer merely notes that the space where the file is stored is available for reuse. Whether it gets reused depends on how full your hard drive is. If the file doesn't get overwritten, its a simple matter to resurrect it.2

    Several Windows programs are available to overwrite such spaces with zeros and ones, including Norton Utilities' WipeInfo, OnTrack's DataEraser and Sanitizer from Infraworks.

    So how do you make sure your old machine is squeaky clean before you part company with it?

    . Save your e-mail address book, then uninstall your e-mail program. Make sure you have the original program on a disk to reinstall later.

    . Clear out cookie files, temporary Internet files, bookmarks and cache files.

    . Defragment your hard drive.

    . Run WipeInfo.
    . To be completely secure, you may opt to back up your programs on a disk, reformat the entire hard drive and reinstall the empty programs. Several companies offer products that will wipe all data, including programs and the operating system, from the computer.

    Jackson said it's simple to clean everything out if you are using any version of Microsoft Windows, except NT or 2000. The procedure:

    . Restart your computer and hit the F8 key as it's starting.

    . When you get the DOS prompt (C:>), type "format c:" and hit "enter,"s When you get a start-up menu, go to option six, "Command Prompt Only," and hit "enter."

    . You'll see a warning: "ALL DATA WILL BE LOST" and a prompt that offers a "Y/N" to make sure that's what you want to do. If you type "Y," Jackson said, everything will be lost and the disk must be reformatted to be usable.3

Cleaning tools
    These programs can completely erase files from the hard drive of a Windows computer.

    . Norton WipeInfo is a component of Norton Utilities, $49, or Norton SystemWorks, $60. Both are from Symantec, www. symantec. com/ nu.

    . OnTrack's DataEraser is available in personal ($30) and professional ($200) versions at www. ontrack. com/ dataeraser.

    . Infraworks Sanitizer C (www. infraworks. com/ sanitizer.html) is $29.95.

    Norton Utilities includes WipeInfo and CleanSweep to erase old computer files.

TOGGLE Editor's Notes:
    1 Can you say Identity Theft? Do you know what it is?
    2 When you "Delete" a file, the filename is "marked" for deletion and no longer listed in the directory, but the file is still stored on the disk in the same location. Being marked for deletion means that the disk space occupied is now available to be overwritten by another file. Once that happens, the link to the info formerly in that space is gone. Gone, I tell you! That's why you can UNDELETE a file if you do it right away before it is overwritten. Undelete restores the filename to the directory.
    3 You just reformatted the disk. Surely he means you must also reload/restore an operating system such as Windows, OS2 or Linux,and software programs such as word processors, spreadsheets or games to make the computer usable again.
 
  Number 219 - August 2001