Need Computer Advice

Well then my advice is to introduce it to a Louisville Slugger!

I was hoping for a serious answer, but have to admit that really was funny !

I may just end up doing that Flo !

i thought it was 'format c:' but i wouldn't take my advice! i'm a computer dunce.

try excel computer services in florence, on florence blvd across from arbys. i just had them work on a computer for me, and they did a great job.

quote:

Originally posted by Liongrl:
I was hoping for a serious answer, but have to admit that really was funny !

that may not fully work. i suggest a magnet! that will work. if you want to use the computer again, try reinstalling windows and that should work. you have to do a full install, from start up. that won't necessarily "erase" everything, but will make it so 95% of the people couldn't get the info.

Thanks for the replies. BG, I plan on getting rid of the old computer, as I have another I am using right now. As far as prices, what computer service would be the best to use ?

BG, what is the deal with the magnet ???

the magnet causes the metal plates in the hard drive to move off balance where the hard drive is inoperable. usually good for a quick hard drive crash when the cia or someone comes knocking on your door wanting to see what's on your computer.

best advice is go to best buy or office depot and buy a new hard drive and put it in and then install windows on to it. it's a pretty simple process. But if you can get your hands on a windows xp cd then you can just reinstall windows onto the current hard drive and it will prompt you to format the hard drive before installing windows and just do that and it should be fine. make sure you have all the cd's for the hardware in the computer as well, such as your sound card driver, network adapter driver and etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Liongrl:
Thanks for the replies. BG, I plan on getting rid of the old computer, as I have another I am using right now. As far as prices, what computer service would be the best to use ?

i usually reformat with the windows disk that came with the computer. and then put it in the closet and use it as parts for any old computer of similar type i find. usually two old computers have enough memory and such to make somebody a decent starter computer. and then give them to local folks for the heck of it!

quote:

Originally posted by Liongrl:
I need instructions about deleting all information from the hard drive. Have an old computer to get rid of, and want the hard drive totally cleaned out. Thanks!

Link

If your computer has a cd writer on it, this is a great program to completely wipe the hard clean. When downloading, select iso, then burn to a cd, then place in your optical drive and let it boot, then type autonuke and it may take a hour, but it is CLEAN....

Magnets will not harm you hard drive, there are actually very powerful magnets inside of the hard drive itself.

Link

Flo has a great idea, but my wepon of choice is a sledge hammer. You can also just bury the thing in your back yard.

if you have to be totally secure, remove the drive and damage the platters physically. sell the rest of the computer without a harddrive. (you can find many linux distros that will run and boot off a cd or USB thumbdrive)

otherwise, wipe the drive- and reload it with the disks that came with it or a linux distro of your choice.

i'd wipe it by formatting, filling the drive with junk data, formatting, killing the MBR and partition table (at this point you can elect to fill the drive and dump it again), and then the reload.

proper hard drive destruction: Link

Take the hd out and donate the rest of the machine. When you're ready to dispose of the hd just grab a hammer and put a nail or 2 through it
That's what I always do.

DBAN is a good free utility.

Simply formatting a HDD doesn't delete anything.

Thank all of you for the advice! There is still so much I need to learn about computers. Plan on taking a course to brush up on some basic stuff, but need more advanced programs also. Suggestions welcome any time

quote:

Originally posted by Viper:

Flo has a great idea, but my wepon of choice is a sledge hammer. You can also just bury the thing in your back yard.

Never thought of burying one Viper!

I like the sledge hammer and burying idea. Sounds simple enough

We have a drill press at work and I usually put 3 holes in a drive. I'm pretty sure if you try to drive a nail in one you'll probably do more damage to yourself. Don't mess around with magnets.

However I doubt very seriously someone is going to try to recover files off a hard drive. I just do it on computers that might have dealt with HR type stuff (ss info etc.) A simple format and reload of the OS should be sufficient to give a computer away. I usually pass mine down to a friend or family member.

quote:

i suggest a magnet! that will work

Sorry, Baldy, but that is a myth. A hard dirve actually has a very powerful magnet inside the thing that makes the read/write head move.

An industrial magnet might move some stuff around but your garden variety magnet will only make your hard drive mad.

The best thing a novice can do is to boot from a Windows XP CD and use it to format the drive.

Write zeroes to the drive. You can use something like dban or eraser. Once the data is overwritten once, it will be gone. There is a popular myth out there that you have to overwrite data numerous times. Unless you are trying to hide it from the NSA, then one pass is enough.

i guess i showed my computer age. LOL. in the days of 80mb hard drives, they were made up of layers of magnetic film. LOL. a magnet would distort the info on the disks and render it useless. that is where the myth came from. old 5.25" floppy disk were made of the same material. i guess i am officially a dinosaur!