I have a HP pavilion x1966.  We're giving it away and need to leave
the software but get rid of everything else including any saved
emails, websites visited, word files, etc.  I'd prefer to buy the
software to accomplish this on line; it must be dummy proof, and safe.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 17 Sep 2003 18:48 PDT

I have a friend who refurbishes used computers and resells them. He
recommends the use of a program called Acronis Privacy Expert 2003.
Here is a description of the product:

"Acronis Privacy Expert is a very simple and easy to use program to
protect yourself from unwanted people seeing your personal information
and other things that you might not want other people to get access to
like your credit card numbers.

With the addition of DDA, now you even have more options of protecting
your computer by making sure whatever is on there cannot be restored,
this is especially good when you are selling your old computer, you
want to make sure that none of your personal information could be
restored. This is very important because who knows whether or not the
person you are selling your old computer to knows how to restore this
information.

Acronis also gives a well explained and thorough manual with their
programs, so you can follow step by step on how to use the module. It
also goes into detail what the program comes with and also the
different algorithms that are incorcoporated into the program."

http://www.acronis.com/company/inpress/2002/11-tsc-privacyexpert.html

If this kind of product interests you, I'd be glad to gather
information on other, similar products. If this is not the kind of
thing you had in mind, it would be very helpful if you'd provide a few
more details about your needs.

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Request for Question Clarification by legolas-ga on 20 Sep 2003 09:00 PDT

Do you have the original restore CD's that came with the computer? I
can give you a process to ensure that *everything* is off the computer
and completely safe from prying eyes.

Legolas-ga

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Clarification of Question by rhinestone-ga on 30 Sep 2003 17:41 PDT

Yes, we have all of the original software disks that came with the
computer and could delete and reload.

Maybe I'm overly cautious, but everyone has heard the nightmare
stories about credit card numbers being dug out of abandoned hard
drives ....

I guess it really depends if you think anyone inheriting this PC will
actually have access to and inclination for the use of high-powered
data-recovery programs ? If not then you could simply delete
everything, then reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows and your
software. Its not proof against forensic investigations, but its quick
and easy, and whats the likelihood anyone is going to do a deep
analysis ?

Other than that, there are free programs such as Directory Snoop
(which deletes directory entries I think) and evidence eliminator
(which overwrites unused clusters with garbage) so that if you use
then basically only law enforcement or some highly-financed hacker is
going to be able to recover anything after you reformat and reinstall

wolvies, lol

step I:

in IE ->tools ->internet options ->content ->personal information
->auto complete ->then from there you can clear passwords or choose
what to use autocomplete for.

if you want to disable it completely 

in IE ->Tools ->internet options ->advanced and slide down to security
and uncheck "enable profile assistant"

step II:
Download the free trial of http://www.history-kill.org (you don't have
to purchase it) and clean your pc tracks. Easy to do.

step III:

In order to remove all e-mails try to locate the mailfolder of outlook
express

the path goes like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAMEHERE\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\IDNUMBERHERE\Microsoft\Outlook Express\

you'll have to put
USERNAMEHERE
IDNUMBERHERE

You can easily see the whole path by going to outlook express->inbox
folder>rightclick->properties

visit the path you see there and delete all .dbx files

Outlook will recreate them next time you'll run.

regards