I am donating my old PC and want to ensure my files, internet history, etc is deleted.?

Question

Under tools in internet, one can select options then delete files, cookie, history, etc. Does that completely erase online records or do I need to do additional steps?

Answer 1

That will delete your internet history, not everything though.



Here are some things:

*Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Internet Options and delete all browsing history (cookies, temporary internet files etc). Check the box, Also delete files and settings stored by add-ons.

To make sure you see Local Settings, you must go to My computer and C drive. Under tool>folder Options>View and make shure SHOW hidden files is checked and make suer HIDE files is UNCHECKED.



*Go to C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents Delete all files. (for each user)

*Go to C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\History Delete all files. (for each user)

*Go to C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\temp Delete all files. (for each user)

*Delete all in recycle bin

You can also check and see if you have made any folders that need to be deleted, or uninstall any programs you added



You can always reformat the computer and use (if you have it) the restore CD to set back to factory settings.

Answer 2

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/eraser.html



Normal file deletion is insecure



Your first thought may be that when you delete a file, the data is gone. Not quite, when you delete a file, the operating system does not really remove the file from the disk; it only removes the reference of the file from the file system table. The file remains on the disk as long as another file is created over it, and even after that, it might be possible to recover data by studying the magnetic fields on the disk platter surface. Before the file is overwritten, anyone can easily retrieve it with a disk maintenance or an undelete utility.



For example, imagine that you have been surfing on the web for a while and afterwards wish to clear any traces revealing what sites you visited. You go to your browser’s preferences and select to clear the cache and the history file, the information is now gone you think to yourself - well think again. The browser cache files can easily be restored with an undelete utility and your privacy is once again compromised.



To be sure that a file is gone, its contents must be properly overwritten before deleting. As simple as it sounds, there are several problems in secure file removal, mostly caused by the construction of a hard disk and the use of data encoding. These problems have been taken into consideration when Eraser was designed and because this intuitive design you can safely and easily erase private data from your disk.



Deleted data can be easily recovered



You have most likely already insecurely deleted countless amount of files from your drive and every now and then applications create (and insecurely delete) temporary files on your drive containing some possibly sensitive data that you would rather not share with other people. This data remains on your drive until it gets overwritten and can be viewed with simple disk utility.



This is where the erasing of unused disk space comes in handy. The erasing of unused disk space means that all space available on your drive will be overwritten so that data previously saved on it cannot be restored. Eraser provides you a convenient way to erase the unused disk space regularly in order to remove the remains of temporary files and other sensitive information you possibly have had on your hard disk.

Answer 3

best thing to do is reformat computer with your installation disc. don't have one? go to internet options clear history. go to start menu, search, all files and folders, type cookies,erase all that come up, plus do this with any mpeg, jpeg, wma, avi, etc. files you have. you should be set to go after doing this but the disc is the best way be sure to empty recycle bin if doing it manually

Answer 4

Don’t think that it will not leak your privacy by cleaning the file by hand. you need download the software for cleaning system.They can clean temporary files and the registry and your privacy,increases your PC speed.Well adapted to computer users at different competence levels

You can click the website http://computer-optimize.com/ to find the satisfied software



I wish my solution could help you.

Personal experience

good luck！！

Answer 5

http://www.docsdownloads.com/Tier1/sure_delete.htm

The above mentioned link contains a software called sure delete .. first you'll have to delete all the files in the usual way and then use this utility to make youre that everything is deleted ..

All the Best and happy computing

If you have any doubts pls mail me at

[e-mail]

Answer 6

You have to reinstall system for complete Solutions



Partition your Hard Disk again

2 - 3 time Format mar do. ( Ntfs - Fat32)

Re install OS



Shortcut

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