Be careful letting an old hard drive out of your hands. I have software that can still read old deleted files even after a format. You can download free utilities that will write 1s and 0' over and over and over to make it harder for someone to retrieve the info. In my opinion, it's not worth the risk unless you personally know the guy.

 

Buy a new hard drive for the one you are selling and load Windows to it but first pull the old one out.

 

Well, I put it on Craigslist for sale, and someone wanted to buy it from me. Should I not do it?

 

thats because when you delete files on a computer they dont actually get 'removed,' rather the HD is told there is no data there when there really is. when we retire hard drives here i take them to the shop and they put em under a drill press. only sure way to get rid of a HD.

 

So, if I sell it, what kind of info could they get?

 

Anything that you may have saved.. say if you have your credit card infor stored under that "useful" google toolbar, they could theoretically read it. I gotta agree with 'the don' on this one, after you format, unless you are keeping the machine for yourself, do a complete wipe of your PC using any one of several free programs. Try http://www.killdisk.com/

Sent you a PM if you need some other help

 

I have a question also, I am pretty computer illiterate. I have Norton and in order for me to acces the internet I must first disable it. It hasnt always been like this, how do I make it so it is enabled while I am on the internet.


Any help is appreciated.

 

I am assuming you have norton internet security running, as anti-virus basically just scans for viruses.

Under NIS (norton internet security) there is an option to scan your PC for programs that use the internet. I would offer more help on where to find it but I dont use it personally. Anyone have NIS and get him a screen-cap or guide?

Remember if you have a router chances are that NIS is pretty much redudant software and wont do you a whole lot of good if you router is setup properly. Most people eat up system resources for no good reason.

If anyone is intrested I will post a thread on how to get rid of all those annoying icons that pop-up in the bottom right corner of your XP machines.

 

you should be able to add an exception for which applications are allowed to access the internet. and telgren is right, most of the time you dont need a software firewall if you have a physical one. sorry i cant help explicity as i dont use it. i use AGV Free Edition, works great!