Hi,
I've finally upgraded to a new all singing, all dancing computer.
If I want to get rid of my old Presario, running Windows 98, what is the best way, or is there a way, of making sure all of my files, e-mails, all of my personal bits and pieces are deleted from my old system. There's nothing particularly 'secret' on there, but I don't want some young kid able to find anything that they shouldn't.
Keep it simple please, I'm not an expert.
Thanks,
StC

Hello. First thing you should do is scrap it for all useful components. That would include the HD. Even if it is old. If you chose not to here is one sure way to clean it out. First of all you must realize there is a difference between deleting a file and ERASING a file.

I suggest first downloading a program called "eraser" [or some other erasing program] from cnet.com's download.com. Use the program to:

Erase the files you feel are the most compromising like your address book, email source files, etc.
After you erase those files. Erase the unused space on the drive.
Then do a "clean reinstall" of the OS. After that is done. Erase unused space on the drive again.

That should make your files unretrieveable. I've written a more detailed response on another thread. If I find it, I'll post it.

Also, always update your antivrius and "erase" files on your computer that are sensative. If possible store them on media and not the HD.

No, just because It is marked to be able to be overwritten doesn't mean it will. And technically it has to be overwritten *many* times before it can become unrecoverable. Someone like me could take that computer after what you did and get all data back, or atleast 97% of it.

I created a back-up floppy from the link, and succesfully 'wiped' my computer.
I now have a problem loading Windows 98.
When I switch the computer on, with no discs in any drive, it displays 'Invalid system disc. Remove and press any key.'
If I put either the back-up floppy, or a full version of Win98, the message changes to 'Non-system disc or disc error.'
If I put an old Win98 floppy, that I've had for ages, into the its driver, I eventually get a 'A' drive prompt.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I have better things to do with an HD if i no longer need it *evil horns* muahahaha*

Oh, so you do overwrite 7 times?

here is a program i have never used but read about it and if it will help you good.


http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

Create a Windows 98 startup disk. Once you're done, go into the C:\Windows\Command folder and copy the Format.com file to the disk.
(I never could understand why Microsoft doesn't include that file when we create one)

Insert the disk in its drive, then power on the computer. When the computer boots to the disk and the black options menu screen appears, select Start computer without CDROM support. When the prompt appears, type in

FORMAT C:

Allow the formatting process to run its course and delete everything from the hard drive.

Now, you can give that computer to anyone and let them reinstall Windows from scratch.

Yea, for the most part reformatting is uesless. However there are exceptions. If he erases unused space, reformats-clean reinstall, and then whipes the computer again it will insure that the data can't be recovered. Why? Well if my data on the subject is correct, once he has reformatted, everything ecept the OS files will be considered "data that can be written over" = what happens when you delete a file. Since all erasing applications work on the principle of rewriting those "data that can be written over" files over and over and over and over again, he'll have piece of mind!

That's what I would do. Remember those unfortunates involved in those cadles and stuff during the 1990s. The servers their emails were no checked. The people involved thought that their data was gone because they deleted it? LOL, the investigators knew that they would find everything they needed on their hard drive.

One other thing I neglected to mention. In the thread I posted on, one the situation was that the guy was selling/giving away the machine. One responded saying that reformatting is all he really needed to do. I found this to be the worst advice. You don't know what somebody is going to do with the data they retrieve off your machine? Also, most people don't even try to encrypt the "sensative" data on their drives. So if they were foolish enough to simply reformat and not erase, a criminal with software you can find at www.download.com, could just retrieve most if not all of it. Ever thought about how much of you data could be compromised if your house was robbed?

You need to format the hard drive with a startup floppy disk in order to completely wipe it out. There's no "miracle buttons" you can press to do this.

You can create a fully-bootable startup floppy disk by going here, clicking the "Windows 98 boot floppy image'' link, downloading and saving the win98_img.exe file, then double-clicking the file and allowing it to extract its files into a blank floppy disk.

Is your Windows 98 CD a 'full" version or an "upgrade' version? If it's a full version, you're okay. If it's an upgrade version, you'll also need a windows 95 CD.

How about just drilling several holes right through the hard drive case?
(I'm kidding, of course, unless you no longer need the hard drive)

The A:\> prompt is where you should be, this guide should help you finish
the job..........http://www.hexff.com/win98_install.php