Re: Secure File Deletion Programs

Well, the tech wouldn't let me smash it, microwave it or anything else,
but he couldn't have been nicer. Dell would not recommend or endorse
any specific product as possessing the ability to accomplish the actual
goal of a secure file deletion program. He did his best to try to find
some information, which he shouldn't have done, and he was unable to.
When Dell sends someone to your home to replace hardware, it is
specifically hardware only, NO software help whatsoever - their policy.


I did run the Eraser program multiple times, but it made me very
uncertain since it only went over what was designated as blank space
after a manual delete and empty of the recycle bin. It was very quick
about it too, which made me think of the warnings that a complete
delete could take days. Anyway, I ran it multiple times, it said I had
something like 75 open out of 80 on the drive when it was done, but all
of the programs were still there. The question is how do you know that
it securely deleted it if you had to delete it first? kwim?

He and I had a few good laughs, and he waited for me to contact Dell
and put the question to them this way "What guarantee do I have that
you and the companies/contractors with which you work that handle the
drive being returned that any trace data that might possibly be
retrievable is safe and will not be retrieved or accessed, etc." They
told me that they destroy the damaged drives upon receipt with a
destruction process of hole punching the drives. I called twice and
took names, the tech heard it too, and we laughed as I said "I wonder
if 'Well, I ran an eraser program five times on it, attempted to
reformat the drive, and Imran and Mark from Dell assured me that it
would be physically destroyed upon their receipt." or maybe I should go
a little blonder and more bubbly should that day come? lol. He said he
would back me up in my hopefully adequate attempts. lol. Anyway, I feel
it was okay, but not as good as I would have liked to feel about it.
There is a part of me that thinks since Dell, in an extended service
hardware contract, basically serves as my paid IT support, and that
they have some ethics and responsibility issues to contend with or
answer to or uphold as well as such. Even if I weren't a business, an
average person still has things on their computers that need protecting
as well.

The people from Pinion Software called back, and I presented my case
explainign what sort of information I deal with, etc., and brought up
the vet info. home computer theft, and I have now bought 4 scrubs from
Sanitizer 5.0 on 3.5" diskette to run on all of the computers I have
here physically in my possession. It is only $12.00 per scrub, and if
purchased on the 3.5" diskette, no expiration date to the scrubs. I
bought 2 scrubs for my 2 old computers, and 2 scrubs for the new
desktop hard drive and current laptop hard drive that I use for when
the time comes. He tells me it meets Department of Defense Standards
and that it has been tested by a numer of labs and verified that by all
practical purposes the information is unrecoverable - talked a bit
about the set up for the Airforce, Navy, Army, etc. He assured me it is
as easy as can be to use - whereas I did not find that with the Eraser
so much.

The difference between Sanitizer and the Eraser is, from what I can
see, that the Eraser has the ability to designate exactly what you want
to scrub clean after you place it into and remove it from the recycle
bin, as in it scrubs the areas of the computer that are *empty* and
leaves the rest alone, so it seems like it might be a good thing to
just run periodically to protect against a large amount of old data on
a p.c. in a potential theft of the actual computer, but the Sanitizer
is just popped in and wipes out absolutely everything, without you
having to manually start from the bottom of your file tree in Windows
Explorer and working your way up deleting each and every possible
folder first (as some program files deny you access to deletion.). He
said that the CD version of the Sanitizer does indeed have an
expiration date, but if someone did not get around to using all of the
scrubs they had purchased, they could work with you on that. I kind of
liked the 3.5" disk - sort of MI and James Bondish dontchya think? lol.
I told him that I knew of some interested people interested in a
good/reliable solution so he said that he would e-mail a two-***
informative *** on the product.

Okay, off now to find out why my NAV tells me my subscription is
expired and then that I have 318 days left of a two-year renewal for
the laptop......can you believe that it is a problem with THEIR live
update feature and they want to charge me $70 to have a tech support
person fix it remotely (refundable if problem not fixed), or $30 to
have someone walk me through it on the phone (nonrefundable), or free
if done online via chat, AFTER the price of already paying for the
two-year renewal? Unbelievable. I ranted, but it got me nowhere.

On Dec 12, 4:30 pm, "Laura Gibson" <transp...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Smash them with a hammer is what our accountant does when he upgrades to a
new computer. He takes the hard drive out, and smashes it to bits after
transferring all the old info into the new puters.

Laura

"RaeMorrill" <RaeMorr...@xxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:nHCfh.2848$D9.745@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



LOL. Well, they are not going to re-use them I should hope if they are
broken.

Anne Vasquez wrote:
That's exactly what the HP tech did when I told him I couldn't let a dead
HD with patient info on it leave my house; he smashed it with a hammer
before taking it.  He told me that wasn't exactly company policy,
though...  <G>

Chris wrote:

Thanks guys. I'll check out the link. I think I'll call Dell to see if
they have any recommendations too. The guy I spoke with from AOL the
other day said "Hey, nobody said what type of damage had to be done
prior to the return; there are always things like hammers and
microwaves. " lol- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

.