I Want To Sell My Laptop...

But I just want to be sure that selling it unformatted would be safe.

For instance, I am planning on making a new admin account on the computer, and from there I am going to delete the CURRENT admin account which I'm using now, by going to control panel > users/accounts > (admin account name) > Delete (would you like to keep account files? Answer: No).

And the buyer who will recieve the laptop will have access to the newly created account, and there will be no other account on the computer besides maybe the guest account (and another wierd Admin account that is somehow above all and I never used before) and I would have deleted this account via the control panel....am I safe after having done this? Meaning can the buyer still somehow recover private information (saved passwords, files, etc.) after I've deleted my account?

Thanks.

Reason I'm asking is, this computer already has the Dell drivers and downloads installed to make it as good as it is...and if I format with a Windows Vista CD, everything will be lost and I have to re-download drivers etc. It just makes the computer more valuable when selling.

Originally posted by FWahMaN
But I just want to be sure that selling it unformatted would be safe.

For instance, I am planning on making a new admin account on the computer, and from there I am going to delete the CURRENT admin account which I'm using now, by going to [b]control panel > users/accounts > (admin account name) > Delete (would you like to keep account files? Answer: No).

And the buyer who will recieve the laptop will have access to the newly created account, and there will be no other account on the computer besides maybe the guest account (and another wierd Admin account that is somehow above all and I never used before) and I would have deleted this account via the control panel....am I safe after having done this? Meaning can the buyer still somehow recover private information (saved passwords, files, etc.) after I've deleted my account?

Thanks.

Reason I'm asking is, this computer already has the Dell drivers and downloads installed to make it as good as it is...and if I format with a Windows Vista CD, everything will be lost and I have to re-download drivers etc. It just makes the computer more valuable when selling. [/B]

Bad news: I'll still be able to use digital forensic tools to find all the porn that you're trying to get rid of. Up to 5 bitlayers deep. 😐

lol so he'll be able to view all my blowjob videos. Great. 😛

No seriously though, do you mean even AFTER I formatted with a Windows CD? Also how do digital forensic tools work?

Well, to be honest there are pretty much no FILES that have sensitive information...but in the case where there is (like a word document with my credit card number on it) deleting that may not be safe as per your response, but what if I EDIT the word document, save it, then delete it? Surely then the identity thief will only be able to recover the EDITED document and not what it was initially?

I was also curious about saved passwords and such. Like for instance, my password/username on this site is saved so I don't have to keep typing them. Should a new account not be able to know these saved usernames and passwords online? Thanks.

Nuke the HDD.

Will do, with one of those programs I heard about online (ERASER, DBAN, etc.) which are free...and this will be of course after I've transfered shit to the new laptop and after someone actually buys my computer...wouldn't want to end up formatting for no reason.

Originally posted by FWahMaN
lol so he'll be able to view all my blowjob videos. Great. 😛

No seriously though, do you mean even AFTER I formatted with a Windows CD? Also how do digital forensic tools work?

Originally posted by FWahMaN
Well, to be honest there are pretty much no FILES that have sensitive information...but in the case where there is (like a word document with my credit card number on it) deleting that may not be safe as per your response, but what if I EDIT the word document, save it, then delete it? Surely then the identity thief will only be able to recover the EDITED document and not what it was initially?

I was also curious about saved passwords and such. Like for instance, my password/username on this site is saved so I don't have to keep typing them. Should a new account not be able to know these saved usernames and passwords online? Thanks.

Originally posted by FWahMaN
Will do, with one of those programs I heard about online (ERASER, DBAN, etc.) which are free...and this will be of course after I've transfered shit to the new laptop and after someone actually buys my computer...wouldn't want to end up formatting for no reason.

Oh, you're a dudette? I thought you were a dude. lol!

In that case, I'll scrub your harddrive for you for one of those famous BJ's you talked about. 😆

Anyway, download the liveCD (I think there's a flash drive version you can download straight to a flash drive) version of Backtrack 4.

Then, set your BIOS to boot to the flash drive.

Then, after backtrack4 finally loads up into memory, you'll log int with the username-----> root

then the password is -------> toor

Then, it will give you a command line prompt. Type in-----> startx

Then hit enter.

That will start the GUI.

After the GUI fully loads up into memory, then, click the "button" on the bottom left hand side and look through the programs for the forensic tools and use one of the forensic tools there to wipe the harddrive clean.

I've taken TONS of liberty here, assuming you know how to change your BIOS settings, know how to download stuff and run it from a flashdrive, etc.

And, you're passwords are stored in an encrypted form, in Firefox. It uses a mutual authentication technique to retrieve your passwords: first, you authenticate to windows, then firefox verifies that authentication you made against windows (to make sure that you are you), then, Firefox uses an estalbished key to decrypt and retrieve stored passwords. They are not stored plain text, and they are in a hidden directory. Even if some schmoe found it, he wouldn't be able to decrypt it.

However, if you scrub your hard drive with the instructions I gave you above, you won't even have to worry about that.

Moving this to the Computer Help forum.

Originally posted by dadudemon
[technobabble]

I've taken TONS of liberty here, assuming you know how to change your BIOS settings, know how to download stuff and run it from a flashdrive, etc.

Not to be a geek or anything...but I understood all that perfectly, apart from how Firefox and Windows work together with the passwords. That's the first I've heard of it.

Originally posted by dadudemon
Oh, you're a dudette? I thought you were a dude. lol!

In that case, I'll scrub your harddrive for you for one of those famous BJ's you talked about. 😆

Anyway, download the liveCD (I think there's a flash drive version you can download straight to a flash drive) version of Backtrack 4.

Then, set your BIOS to boot to the flash drive.

Then, after backtrack4 finally loads up into memory, you'll log int with the username-----> root

then the password is -------> toor

Then, it will give you a command line prompt. Type in-----> startx

Then hit enter.

That will start the GUI.

After the GUI fully loads up into memory, then, click the "button" on the bottom left hand side and look through the programs for the forensic tools and use one of the forensic tools there to wipe the harddrive clean.

I've taken TONS of liberty here, assuming you know how to change your BIOS settings, know how to download stuff and run it from a flashdrive, etc.

And, you're passwords are stored in an encrypted form, in Firefox. It uses a mutual authentication technique to retrieve your passwords: first, you authenticate to windows, then firefox verifies that authentication you made against windows (to make sure that you are you), then, Firefox uses an estalbished key to decrypt and retrieve stored passwords. They are not stored plain text, and they are in a hidden directory. Even if some schmoe found it, he wouldn't be able to decrypt it.

However, if you scrub your hard drive with the instructions I gave you above, you won't even have to worry about that.

2. Instead of doing all that you said, would a program like ERASER or DBAN just nuke the hard drive of passwords, usernames, files, and all types of sensitive information? Like that I put into websites (passwords, credit card numbers, addressed, etc.)? Thanks.

Originally posted by FWahMaN
1. If I said "it's time for my BJ" then obviously I'm the one getting it, so "my BJ videos" doesn't necessarily have to mean they are of me giving them (I would need to be gay first). On the contrary they are my downloaded videos of BJs. Hope that clears that up.

2. Instead of doing all that you said, would a program like ERASER or DBAN just nuke the hard drive of passwords, usernames, files, and all types of sensitive information? Like that I put into websites (passwords, credit card numbers, addressed, etc.)? Thanks.

The option he is giving you is the surefire way to make sure it's all gone. There's a possibility of those programs not getting everything.

He just mentioned that it'll destroy saved passwords and the like. Nothing about erasing everything 100%...and why do I have to use a flashdrive? What's wrong with a CD? Also how do I know I can do a flash boot? I heard you have to have special options to do it from a flash drive.

Also the thing that's been bugging me recently is, I heard once of a level of format that even prevents you computer from BOOTING UP (basically you can't even bring it back to normal with an Operating System CD or other software CDs) is that the level of format he's talking about?

Also does anyone know of DARIK's BOOT AND NUKE (DBAN) and after using it, can I reinstall Windows and everything on it? Or is this the scary level of formatting that won't even make my computer bootable (if that level even exists, sorry, I just think I heard of it somewhere).

Also I didn't know this forum existed...and the forum it was originally in was Computer/(/ = and/or...)Video Games discussion. This is discussing computers so, some authoritative person failed.

Originally posted by FWahMaN
He just mentioned that it'll destroy saved passwords and the like. Nothing about erasing everything 100%...and why do I have to use a flashdrive? What's wrong with a CD? Also how do I know I can do a flash boot? I heard you have to have special options to do it from a flash drive.

Also the thing that's been bugging me recently is, I heard once of a level of format that even prevents you computer from BOOTING UP (basically you can't even bring it back to normal with an Operating System CD or other software CDs) is that the level of format he's talking about?

Also does anyone know of DARIK's BOOT AND NUKE (DBAN) and after using it, can I reinstall Windows and everything on it? Or is this the scary level of formatting that won't even make my computer bootable (if that level even exists, sorry, I just think I heard of it somewhere).

Also I didn't know this forum existed...and the forum it was originally in was Computer/(/ = and/or...)Video Games discussion. This is discussing computers so, some authoritative person failed.

The way he mentioned will destroy EVERYTHING.

Ok well, has anyone used DBAN before (or the method mentioned above) and had problems re-installing Windows VISTA afterwards on a laptop? Because I really would want to be able to re-install Vista with just the Windows Vista OS CD after DBAN's "autonuke" procedure.

Just reformat it.

Chances of recovering your formatted files are slim, since the majority of PC users are noobs.

Besides, there is a high possibility that he/she would reformat the drive and download and install the necessary software drivers themselves.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but...

1. Do I have make anything with a floppy disc? My laptop has no floppy disc drive to even consider thinking about floppy's.

2. Can I create a cd with DBAN burned onto it (I have to burn it if I'm using a CD right) and can I do this as an alternative to using floppy's and usb flash drives? I'm not really familiar with flash drives nor do I have a floppy disc drive on here. I also think what's being burned on the cd is an ISO file...

3. After burning the CD, can I simply format it afterwards and make it as if it had nothing on it (like it had nothing on it before) or is DBAN hard to erase?

4. Will I have to do anything like go into the BIOS? Or have anything to do with BIOS? Or is that the thing that asks me "want to boot from disc" when I turn my laptop with a bootable OS disc in it?

5. After DBAN is done its autonuke option which I am likely to choose, do I re-install the OS by turning on the computer with a bootable disc inside (windows vista cd) and does it ask me if I want to boot from it? Or is there something that will prevent it from being this easy?

I heard several complaints of people being able to boot from an OS CD, but they faced the problem error message "Windows is shutting off due to an error to prevent damage to your computer", that, or "windows does not detect a hard drive" etc. What says I'm not going to face this kind of problem?

Thanks.

Please, man. I'm putting my trust in you with this one.

All I want to do is use an effective wiping program (by burning the ISO file of it to a re-writable CD, if that is possible since I heard somewhere it can be done on a writable CD, not a re-writable...), then re-install an OS using the OS CD, and wala...of course get the drivers later on, but that shouldn't be an issue as it's been done before.

Nevermind. Editz. Lolz don't know what to do...probably will just sell it to mommy for 400$ (highest she's paying....)..........or something else. Besides, I'm probably going to have to learn to sell computers some day...might as well start now...

...well i tried to edit my last post. more than 15 minutes passed though

Originally posted by FWahMaN

Also I didn't know this forum existed...and the forum it was originally in was Computer/(/ = and/or...)Video Games discussion. This is discussing computers so, some authoritative person failed.

Actually, that is the "Computer Game or Video Game discussion forum".

And if you are still interested I'd just do a run of the mill format by putting in the OS CD and using the partition manager to format the disk before reinstalling it. Of course dadudemon is right, but seriously, what are the chances you will sell a 400 dollar laptop to a cryptoanalyst...who's also really interested in finding your one credit card number stored once...seriously, life's too short, if you want to play it safe just get a new credit card, seems less like a bother.

Lolz I had my decision finalized yesterday to give it to mom...but yeah...ok guys. Gonna do it...well at least...I'll give it to her and once a dude (he better not by an cryptoanalysist or I'll break'em! 😠 ) buys it for lol550 bucks, I'll snatch it from mommy, put it in it's original retail box and mail it ftw (more like 550 bucks actually 😱 )

Lolz I had my decision finalized yesterday to give it to mom...but yeah...ok guys. Gonna do it...well at least...I'll give it to her and once a dude (he better not by an cryptoanalysist or I'll break'em! 😠 ) buys it for lol550 bucks, I'll snatch it from mommy, put it in it's original retail box and mail it ftw (more like 550 bucks actually 😱 )

Anyone here wantz to buy it? 313 I'm avengerxii on Amazon.