We don't know how much malware comes in with it. We don't know how effective it is, since we can't test it on our own active computers. I'll stick with my Microsoft solutions.
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How are you surviving, posting to this forum? Think of the potential javascript exploits!
There's prudent internet use and then there's pointless paranoia. If the advice given isn't usable, maybe you need to take a hammer to the drive platters.
Who is we?
It's great software, it does what it's designed to do, (very effective) and no reports of malware. But the software does not run in Windows, works on any computer with or without an operating system so malware wouldn't even be an issue.
If you don't trust the users in this forum why are you in here?
Oh well, many people find the software very useful and easier than the way you clean a drive.
J
John.Laninga
Guest
I will not donate a non-working computer to charity.
I do not have the original OS install disks, there is not a recovery partition, so re-installing the OS (Win7) is not going to work.
So I'm going to smash the old computer and dispose of the pieces in a responsible manner. Then I will donate $100 to charity.
I didn't intend for this to become an argument. Cheez.....
I do not have the original OS install disks, there is not a recovery partition, so re-installing the OS (Win7) is not going to work.
So I'm going to smash the old computer and dispose of the pieces in a responsible manner. Then I will donate $100 to charity.
I didn't intend for this to become an argument. Cheez.....
Jestertheclown
Senior Member
BIJ001
Veteran Member
Donating without an OS (or the password) would lessen the value of the donated box. (Even though there is way to reset the forgotten password to empty.) If you have the original installation disk, then reformatting and reinstalling would be a way. But if you have the OS sticker and the registration key, the lack of the original installation disk is not such a big problem. You can get a grip on an installation disk some way.
I once bought for wifey a second hand computer which had been reformatted and the OS new installed. After a time the disk developed a failure, the OS would not boot any longer and the contents had to be rescued with the help of PhotoRec (many thanks, Christophe GRENIER!). It was a though work costing several days, but the data (and my a... that is the rest of my authority) were saved.
The files were rescued without the name and the directory structure just the contents and type. I had to wade through them to create some order before handing them over to wifey and it turned out, that many files of the previous owner were also rescued! Even though the disk had been reformatted and the OS new installed!
A sad story took shape. The wife of the previous owner got more and more sick, she even had to come under the trusteeship (guardianship) of her man. Then she died, then he also got more and more sick, then he also died and the daughter sold the inherited stuff including the PC, which came to a small electronics repair and second hand shop, was sold to me and our story began.
Take care!
P.S. I once had a rescue CD. It came with a computer magazine. It might have been in the good old XP days. It was essentially a Linux system with a special boot menu (but you did not need to know or note this) with various useful functionalities instead of the usual Linux installation. One of them was the resetting of the Administrator password. I once had to apply this to the PC of my father (who had forgotten the password) and it worked like a charm.
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Iván József Balázs
(Hungary)
I once bought for wifey a second hand computer which had been reformatted and the OS new installed. After a time the disk developed a failure, the OS would not boot any longer and the contents had to be rescued with the help of PhotoRec (many thanks, Christophe GRENIER!). It was a though work costing several days, but the data (and my a... that is the rest of my authority) were saved.
The files were rescued without the name and the directory structure just the contents and type. I had to wade through them to create some order before handing them over to wifey and it turned out, that many files of the previous owner were also rescued! Even though the disk had been reformatted and the OS new installed!
A sad story took shape. The wife of the previous owner got more and more sick, she even had to come under the trusteeship (guardianship) of her man. Then she died, then he also got more and more sick, then he also died and the daughter sold the inherited stuff including the PC, which came to a small electronics repair and second hand shop, was sold to me and our story began.
Take care!
P.S. I once had a rescue CD. It came with a computer magazine. It might have been in the good old XP days. It was essentially a Linux system with a special boot menu (but you did not need to know or note this) with various useful functionalities instead of the usual Linux installation. One of them was the resetting of the Administrator password. I once had to apply this to the PC of my father (who had forgotten the password) and it worked like a charm.
--
Iván József Balázs
(Hungary)
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Jestertheclown
Senior Member
I'd guess that the supposed formatting was carried out during the installation of the new OS.
My understanding is that "quick formatting", as that would be, doesn't actually remove the existing files, rather it overwrites them with loads of ones and zeroes at random.
As a result, a sufficiently deep scan can and often does reveal what's underneath.
"Nuke'n'Boot" doesn't work that way. It actually wipes the drive, making several passes to ensure that nothing's left behind.
For we mere mortals, a three or five pass erasure ought to be more than enough, although I think that its most secure erasure consists of something like 35 passes. And you can do that as many times as you like.
"It's good to be . . . . . . . . . Me!"
Jestertheclown
Senior Member
..
Quick formatting merely removes the directory table and overwrites the first few megabytes. The files remain unaltered.
Unless you think the NSA is interested and finds your donated computer, a single pass overwrite is more than sufficient. The most effort someone would take for a found computer would be to try to run undelete utilities.
Now from a government standards perspective, no number of passes qualifies any more. Either use the secure erase protocol on the drive firmware, or destroy the platters.
So, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant to help you reformat hard drive on your PC.
Scott Eaton
Senior Member
Trust me...most charities don't want a 5yr old PC running Win7. I work with a lot of 501c's. If they need a machine they ask and typically get a corporate hand out.
All you are otherwise donating is somebody else's expense to recycle it.
All you are otherwise donating is somebody else's expense to recycle it.
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BIJ001
Veteran Member
Is there any follow-up?
J
John.Laninga
Guest
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