How to clear a laptop of personal files

Fozwazerus

Greetings H&A,

I am selling a used laptop on ebay and one of the caveats was that I would leave my registered copy of Norton Antivirus on it for the new owner, saving them the cost of the software.

I have two questions:

1. Can I leave it on there and still remove all personal data associated with it?

2. What can I do to clean the laptop of all other personal information and files without formatting and reinstalling the OS?

Thanks!

ben0207

Create a new user account, and use it to delete the old one. Make sure you back all your shit up somewhere else first.

He would be able to restore it with some trouble, but that's always going to be an issue short of getting a really powerful magnet.

L*2*G*X

Just do a complete reinstall, with format-not the quick format, the long one-, then reinstall Norton.
Anything else is asking for trouble.

PeregrineFalcon

Fozwazerus wrote: »

I am selling a used laptop on ebay and one of the caveats was that I would leave my registered copy of Norton Antivirus on it for the new owner, saving them the cost of the software.

Just include the original install media with it, and wipe/reinstall as suggested.

Desert_Eagle25

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Fozwazerus wrote: »

I am selling a used laptop on ebay and one of the caveats was that I would leave my registered copy of Norton Antivirus on it for the new owner, saving them the cost of the software.

Just include the original install media with it, and wipe/reinstall as suggested.

That wont actually erase anything. I've used recovery programs and restored files that were "thought" to have been deleted by previous users via a clean install (mainly just for my relatives who are not tech savvy).

I suggest using a professional program like Acronis which has Suite programs that handle this sort of thing.

wunderbar

if you do a full format when you install windows(not the quick one), short of taking it to a forensics lab they won't be able to get data off of it.

A quick format just rewrites the partition table, and the data is all still there, a full format writes 0's to every sector of the HDD.

jeepinryan

Actually, last time I checked, doing a full format of the drive in windows doesn't actually clear the data off the disk by writing 0's to each sector. It really just sends a "verify" command to the sector that makes sure it is not a bad or damaged sector and moves on to the next. A "low level format" will accomplish writing the disk with 0's, but that is typically only functionality that you get with higher end SCSI or SAS hard drives and is not a part of the SATA or IDE world.

The install of the OS will most likely write over a lot of the same sectors that were used before, making the data harder to recover. As Desert Eagle said, the best way is to get some secure wiping software if you really want the data gone.

Edit: to be back on topic, you'll most likely be just fine hunting down all of the files that you know of and deleting them yourself. Most users won't have the knowledge or desire to try and recover the data that you delete. If you're worried, you may be able to find some tools that will allow you to do a secure delete of the files while leaving the OS intact.

PeregrineFalcon

Desert_Eagle25 wrote: »

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Fozwazerus wrote: »

I am selling a used laptop on ebay and one of the caveats was that I would leave my registered copy of Norton Antivirus on it for the new owner, saving them the cost of the software.

Just include the original install media with it, and wipe/reinstall as suggested.

That wont actually erase anything. I've used recovery programs and restored files that were "thought" to have been deleted by previous users via a clean install (mainly just for my relatives who are not tech savvy).

I suggest using a professional program like Acronis which has Suite programs that handle this sort of thing.

I was more addressing the "Norton" issue. I don't want to point fingers, but it sounds like an "I'll leave it installed, and keep it for myself as well."

Also, the only wipe tool you ever need - DBAN

DHS Odium

Norton is terrible and nobody should ever use it, ever. If having an anti virus is that big of a deal to the buyer, put one of the free ones on it like Avast! or AVG. If they still want the Norton "name", you can get a free 6 month version from the Google Pack.

Just reformat. And is there any reason you can't reinstall Norton and put in your key/license again to get the remaining time left?

amateurhour

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Desert_Eagle25 wrote: »

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Fozwazerus wrote: »

I am selling a used laptop on ebay and one of the caveats was that I would leave my registered copy of Norton Antivirus on it for the new owner, saving them the cost of the software.

Just include the original install media with it, and wipe/reinstall as suggested.

That wont actually erase anything. I've used recovery programs and restored files that were "thought" to have been deleted by previous users via a clean install (mainly just for my relatives who are not tech savvy).

I suggest using a professional program like Acronis which has Suite programs that handle this sort of thing.

I was more addressing the "Norton" issue. I don't want to point fingers, but it sounds like an "I'll leave it installed, and keep it for myself as well."

Also, the only wipe tool you ever need - DBAN

This is the best piece of advice here. First, make sure you have the key for norton, if not, there's a lot of freeware keysniffers out there for personal use to find your product license. Once you've got that, boot into dban, do a 3 pass wipe, which is military/DoD standard, then reinstall windows, up to at least service pack 2, and reinstall Norton. It's two to four hours of work for piece of mind.

GameHat

DBAN is the way to go

Crashtard

DHS Odium wrote: »

Norton is terrible and nobody should ever use it, ever.

This This THIS. Every time I look at someone's computer and see Norton on the screen I feel like the Devil is kicking me in the crotch with a firey spikey hoof.