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Fuzzy
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13 Jun 2009, 11:27 pm

I'm having problems with my Windows software. Will you help me?


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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.


Fuzzy
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13 Jun 2009, 11:27 pm

Yes. Go to a DOS prompt and type "format c:". Any problems you are experiencing will cease within a few minutes.


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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.


androol
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13 Jun 2009, 11:32 pm

haha very funny... :x



pakled
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14 Jun 2009, 1:11 am

or is it kill -9 -9?...;) still working on that one.

I've found a very interesting 'shred' command in linux. Don't know what you would possibly want it for, but it makes a complete balls' up of any file you run it on...;)



Fuzzy
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14 Jun 2009, 5:29 am

pakled wrote:
or is it kill -9 -9?...;) still working on that one.

I've found a very interesting 'shred' command in linux. Don't know what you would possibly want it for, but it makes a complete balls' up of any file you run it on...;)


That just kills processes.

rm -rf --no-root-protect /

will do in most linuxes.


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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.


DavidK
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14 Jun 2009, 7:23 am

pakled wrote:
I've found a very interesting 'shred' command in linux. Don't know what you would possibly want it for, but it makes a complete balls' up of any file you run it on...;)

It's for securely erasing stuff you don't want anyone to be able to recover. Normally when you delete a file the space is marked as free but the data is still there until something else is written into the same space.



Pikachu
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14 Jun 2009, 8:14 am

lol

simple, do the old format c: thing at a DOS prompt, then burn the installation CDs and install a new OS, bye bye problems

on a more serious note I'd like to take windows off my laptop but I shall have to wait until 2010 before doing so


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Thanks Tinkerbell.

Allegedly away with the fairies for 6-7 years


Fuzzy
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14 Jun 2009, 9:25 am

Programs like that simply zero the data left behind. Files contents are not normally erased, their locations are simply deleted. Thats why you can undelete a file.


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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.


TOGGI3
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14 Jun 2009, 2:20 pm

though if your really trying to hide something, not even shred is totally effective, the best forensics can read a bit on a drive and can measure how strong the magnetic force is on each bit, therefore it may be stronger or weaker or equal in comparison to a freshly written bit, using this information it can be determined what sets of bits were there before they were overwritten.

only way to ensure your data is in your hands only forever is to destroy it completely



Oggleleus
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16 Jun 2009, 2:25 pm

TOGGI3 wrote:
though if your really trying to hide something, not even shred is totally effective, the best forensics can read a bit on a drive and can measure how strong the magnetic force is on each bit, therefore it may be stronger or weaker or equal in comparison to a freshly written bit, using this information it can be determined what sets of bits were there before they were overwritten.

only way to ensure your data is in your hands only forever is to destroy it completely


There is a number of times a format can be run that will jarble up the drive enough that the data will not be recoverable.



pakled
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16 Jun 2009, 9:24 pm

well, on the rare occasions we heard the magic phrase "I don't care what it costs, get the data back" (music to a tech manager's ears...;), you can get almost anything (short of physically destroying the actual platters), if you're willing to pay...;)