Re: OT: password etc removal

Gerald Bonnstetter wrote:
Robert Baer wrote:

rebel wrote:

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:30:56 -0800, Robert Baer <robertbaer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Robert Baer wrote:


Have a friend with an E-Machine preinstalled WinME.
Problem #1: name is presented and password requested; how to remove PW and alter username at meinimum?
BTW, do not know PW, i just click on "cancel" and i am in the system.
Problem #2: MSN installed; how do i remove all instances of username and password?
Problem #3: OE installed; how do i remove all instances of username and password?

Icing on cake: Once all personal junk is "deleted" (even from the "recycle bin"), is there a better way to remove the dregs than a mere defrag?


I'm no expert on defraging, but at best that probably only makes it harder to recover some files from the hard drive.

I remember an article in Dr Dobs on forensic file recovery and they said they could recover some files even after the "format and install Linux/Windows" procedure.

So the only way to truly clean up a disk is to overwrite the deleted files.

So something like Darik's Boot and Nuke is good if your reinstalling the OS or loading a new OS. I've used it but didn't check if it did work. It was slow so I suspect it really did overwrite the partition with multiple patterns.

For your friend who doesn't want to reload the PC OS, you'll have to get a program to clear out the free space on the drive. I Googled on "delete files permanently" and found lots of stuff but they all seemed to want money for their programs.

I would think there would be a free or PD version out there but I will leave that to you to hunt for. ;-)

Of course maybe it would be easier to write a quick program to printf("A") to a disk file until windows crashes. ;-)


Well, got it done.
BUT..
After running Scandisk sucessfully, Defrag stops around 5% of the way with a window saying that scandisk needs to be run.
How can this be fixed?



For 98 at least, there is a MSKB article dealing with recalcitrant scandisk.
The first step is to delete the C:\windows\applog folder and all its contents.

Whether ME has any similarity I wouldn't know, I consider it to be a huge step
backwards from 98SE in most regards.

Will investigate that; thanks.



Hmmmm...so happens that i wrote a program in Fortran that fills all empty space in a hard drive with random characters (that includes the null character for all of you deprived "C" guys).
Program tales little space but writes as fast as the HD will go.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: password etc removal
    ... remove PW and alter username at meinimum? ... harder to recover some files from the hard drive. ... After running Scandisk sucessfully, Defrag stops around 5% of the ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: password etc removal
    ... name is presented and password requested; how to remove PW and alter username at meinimum? ... I remember an article in Dr Dobs on forensic file recovery and they said they could recover some files even after the "format and install Linux/Windows" procedure. ... After running Scandisk sucessfully, Defrag stops around 5% of the way with a window saying that scandisk needs to be run. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
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  • Re: OT: password etc removal
    ... PW and alter username at meinimum? ... harder to recover some files from the hard drive. ... they could recover some files even after the "format and install ... So the only way to truly clean up a disk is to overwrite the deleted files. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
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