Meh I've never done anything software with a computer repair shop.
Butthat's mainly because I'm such a clutz my computers die a physical death quite early. I am a veritable Lenny from Mice and Men, I will hug him and squeeze him and "system error disc crashed!"
I quite like the idea of one of those super tough Toshibas the US military use that can survive a tank rolling over them.
But meh it's still doomed with me.
If anyone's really interested, you have to overwrite data something like 7 times to ensure the data is completely wiped off the disk. You could still read it using some microscopy techniques. http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html
I'm not for one minute suggesting anyone's data is so sensitive that someone would go to these lengths to get it(*), but it might interest the more technical people who want to know about secure data deletion.
(*) depends on both how hot subject, and how naked in the pics
Dan
There's nothing too sensitive on my computer, so I think a few runs with eraser should do it...
What browsers do you like for android? Firefox was good for me, until I updated and it no longer worked, despite trying to install and reinstall. Chrome is no use, because flash didn't work. I'm using Dolphin now, but it's slow.
I have tried different ones but I'm happy with the stock browser. I used to use Opera Mobile/Mini which was quite good but don't really need it anymore.
My stock browser is Chrome..see above.
I never had Chrome before so always used Dolphin. Use them both equally on my new phone, especially for the 'Chrome To Mobile' functionality. I have SkyFire on there too, mainly because it supports Flash.
Dan
Quote: Oldrocker @ November 18 2012, 8:25 PM GMTAnybody else getting BT WiFi options suddenly appearing in their network connections?
My daughter reckons they're putting their boxes everywhere atm to try to get people to sign up.
Oldrocker - BT customers have free wifi connections wherever they go, but in order to take advantage of this, they have to allow some of their own wireless to be used, so I think that is maybe why you are seeing more connections.
Quote: Harridan @ November 19 2012, 9:56 AM GMTI have an old laptop that I want to sell but I want to wipe it of my personal data first. Can anyone advise me of the best way to remove my data but leave the OS in tact?
If you still have the original CD/DVDs that came with the computer, so that the system can be re-installed then the most reliable way is to use a program that boots from a CD/DVD and wipes all hard disks.
I use: http://www.dban.org/
Then the system can be re-installed, either by you or just sell the whole thing with the recovery disks.
If it is being given to a charity, always do this even if you don't have recovery CDs because the charities will have facilities to reload it with a suitable O/S.
If the only recovery, facility is (as is now often the case) just a reserved partition on the hard disk you can't use a boot & Nuke like above as it will wipe the recovery partition.
In which case study the documentation that came with the computer and perform the operation that recovers the computer back to the 'factory' condition. Factory reset. Strictly speaking it would then be a good idea to run a program that overwrites the 'free space' on the recovered computer with random numbers as a huge file and then when the disk(s) is full, delete this random numbers file, to free the space again.
Off hand I don't know a reliable method of wiping and leaving the O/S intact that would survive criminal hackers.
Quote: billwill @ November 19 2012, 7:14 PM GMTIf you still have the original CD/DVDs that came with the computer, so that the system can be re-installed then the most reliable way is to use a program that boots from a CD/DVD and wipes all hard disks.
I use: http://www.dban.org/
Then the system can be re-installed, either by you or just sell the whole thing with the recovery disks.
If it is being given to a charity, always do this even if you don't have recovery CDs because the charities will have facilities to reload it with a suitable O/S.
If the only recovery, facility is (as is now often the case) just a reserved partition on the hard disk you can't use a boot & Nuke like above as it will wipe the recovery partition.
In which case study the documentation that came with the computer and perform the operation that recovers the computer back to the 'factory' condition. Factory reset. Strictly speaking it would then be a good idea to run a program that overwrites the 'free space' on the recovered computer with random numbers as a huge file and then when the disk(s) is full, delete this random numbers file, to free the space again.
Off hand I don't know a reliable method of wiping and leaving the O/S intact that would survive criminal hackers.
Thanks Bill, that's basically what I've done. I don't have any plans for nuclear weapons stored on it so anybody who is that desperate to hack into my old files will just have to make do with a dissertation about Peter Rabbit 
Quote: Carlos Manwelly @ November 19 2012, 4:39 PM GMTOldrocker - BT customers have free wifi connections wherever they go, but in order to take advantage of this, they have to allow some of their own wireless to be used, so I think that is maybe why you are seeing more connections.
Aah, thank you for that.
Bastards !
Quote: Harridan @ November 19 2012, 8:05 PM GMTThanks Bill, that's basically what I've done. I don't have any plans for nuclear weapons stored on it so anybody who is that desperate to hack into my old files will just have to make do with a dissertation about Peter Rabbit
Making sure that you get rid of saved internet passwords and all traces of your email logins & passwords is the most difficult bit.
Quote: billwill @ November 19 2012, 10:13 PM GMTMaking sure that you get rid of saved internet passwords and all traces of your email logins & passwords is the most difficult bit.
If I've removed Firefox (the only browser I stored stuff on) and deleted the data during the uninstall process, and then ran an overwriting programme do you think that's sufficient?
Quote: Harridan @ November 19 2012, 10:16 PM GMTIf I've removed Firefox (the only browser I stored stuff on) and deleted the data during the uninstall process, and then ran an overwriting programme do you think that's sufficient?
Regrettably I do not know.
There may be data in the registry.
All this is why a factory reset is best.
Quote: billwill @ November 19 2012, 10:21 PM GMTRegrettably I do not know.
There may be data in the registry.
All this is why a factory reset is best.
Cheers, I'll do some more investigating. I don't have the CDs to reinstall the OS, and the factory reset function on my laptop is ambiguous about whether it is going to wipe the OS...