in reply to OT: in vivo sublimification of a windows machine

My experience tells me, "Don't trust Windows to delete from Windows." What I mean is that there are secret unwritten files which Windows keeps( and they can change with updates, patches, virii, etc). Plus Gates has been in cahoots with the NSA since the beginning, so even if you get "safe delete" programs, they may just be a cover for a fake delete.

So you need to do it from another Operating System. Boot from a Knoppix cd (or do something similar). You might have to copy the entire Windows file system off of the partition, then write zeros to it with /dev/zero, then put the files back. Even then, you might be inadvertently saving some hidden files.

So what is the best thing to do? Setup your Windows in such a manner, that you can copy off your important files(emails, spreadsheets,etc) to a linux partition, zero out the windows partition, and do a fresh install of Windows, then copy your data back in.

Do it about once a month( or daily if you are paranoid). Or you can just switch to linux. :-)

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh
  • Comment on Re: OT: in vivo sublimification of a windows machine

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Re^2: OT: in vivo sublimification of a windows machine
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 13, 2006 at 13:01 UTC

    Sorry zentara, but this is utter crap.

    Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
    Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
    "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
    In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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[d/l]
      I discovered this when I tried to reinstall trial software which had 1 month trial period. I was amazed. I did format /f (or whatever the switch was to force a real format) with the "Rescue Disk", made by Windows. I should have had a totally reformatted partition. I reinstalled Windows, and then the trial software. Lo-and-behold ..... the trial software said I had used up my 30 days. What? Where was it stored? I had to use an old Dos6 boot floppy to format it out, and since I use linux to zero it out. Then the trial software went in again. So the question is.... what else are they storing?

      I remember googling around for what was going on and it was hinted that Windows will do something like mark certain disk sectors as bad, then hide information in them. It's formatting and delete programs will then skip those areas, leaving them to be found by the next install. Dos6 was the last version of any microsoft product which just did what you wanted. And of course, linux isn't bought off by the government spies yet, although I am becoming increasingly wary as big money moves into controlling the various linux distributions.

      I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh
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        It's well known that Microsoft fdisk overwrites only the first cylinder. Non-Microsoft fdisk typically overwrites only the first sector and if it's good, it should only rewrite the few bytes required in that first sector. Format whether "quick" or "thorough" doesn't really go through the work of zeroing out your drive. The good/bad data areas are a file system function. The part you should really watch out for is using drive's S.M.A.R.T. code to put things into "known bad" places or that leave things in "known bad" places.

        ⠤⠤ ⠙⠊⠕⠞⠁⠇⠑⠧⠊

[reply]

        I remember googling around for what was going on and it was hinted that Windows will do something like mark certain disk sectors as bad,

        Probably written by the guy that was behind the grassy knoll, hosted on a system housed in the same hanger where they shot the "Moon landings" footage.

[reply]

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