2 Questions

Hi, I have 2 questions I'd like answering if thats possible? 1) I have used in the past and know of some software that is classed as a Privicy protecter, deleting your data from various folders etc on your PC, is there any software that is recommended so that upon deletion its gone forever and isnt recoverable? I am the only user of my PC but still I like to feel safe that if I ever sold my PC on or scrapped it Data couldnt be recovered. A little interested in Forensic data recovery and so am wondering if all this software including CC on Secure delete is worth-while or pointless!!! 2) PC Repair. How is one able to keep up with all the latest technology after doing courses or buying guides and books that keep running out-of-date? I want to be able to keep up-to-date just like PC shops etc do so that I know my stuff like I'd be expected to. Is there such a thing or does it mean working in a shop is the only answer to keep up on the current trends? Thanks guys!

For #1, see here: Free Secure File / Disk Deletion Utilities. It's a good place to start.

For #2, do like I and many others do, volunteer at one or more support sites, answering questions and trying to help people with problems. To do that you have to constantly research problems looking for answers and in doing this, you stay on top of most of what is going on, at least in the areas you are interested in.

As you proficiency increases your ability to find better answers also increases. If you get reasonably good, you may get invited to become a member of the tech community at that site.

There are some amazingly good people here and on a few other sites I work at as well as many, many I just visit from time to time.

It's rewarding and fun (most of the time), though sometimes it gets frustrating. Still beats sitting on my butt watching TV all night.

Hi and thanks for the feedback. 1) From what I have read software that claims to remove files etc from your hard drive doesnt it still remains on there and just deletes the directory that lists where it is, so i have read from Forensic Data recovery. Of course, Im not up to no good but I have used a few programs previously and use 1 now along side CCleaner, but was wondering what others thought about the Secure Deletion feature on it and if its worth it. Is it a marketing scam to get people to buy their software when they claim files will become recoverable or is there any plus's to it? 2) Sometimes it's knowing what to ask, and if you don't currently know about it you wont be able to ask, but I do see your point. Do you know of any sites that might be useful to learn from that are kept up-to-date? If that is allowed on here to post? I'm looking for a general to intermediate level of learning to begin and then when I know bits I can progress from there to more in-depth of course, if that's possible. Once again thank you

No, I don't know of any general knowledge site like you describe. There may be one but I'm not aware of any. Your best bet would be to buy a few books. Depending on what level you want to start at, Windows XP/Vista for Dummies is a good book. The "Dummies" part just means it's not written in techno-geek. That will not cover hardware though. That's why I recommended a support forum. In doing the research needed to reply to questions you learn a lot about hardware and software.

Hi Tophat, coming back to your question about erasing data, there is some good information available on the net (and a lot of bad!)
You are right to think that once data has been written to disc it stays there….. deleting the data in the conventional way just makes it slightly more difficult to recover, and the same goes for formatting the disc.

Once the data has been overwritten by new data in the same place on the disc then the recovery of that data becomes a little more difficult. When it has been overwritten a few times it becomes very difficult to recover.

Software that overwrites the data completely a large number of times, makes data recovery very difficult, costly in time and resources, and if a DOD or NSA or Guttman overwrite has taken place then its even more difficult still.

After the final stages of a Guttman 35 pass erase… its generally considered as "rather difficult" for recovery to be made! Once these levels have been adopted then the resource implications for an attempted recovery are enormous and its usually only organisations like CIA, FSB, Mossad or those nice chaps from 6 (or similar) who have multi million budgets vast networks of interlinked computers and sufficient incentives, who are in a good position to make an attempt. If you have the detailed blueprints of the latest nuclear missile firing systems on your home computer then one of those may make an attempt, but otherwise you should be reasonably well protected from the rest of us by a Guttman 35 pass.

Of course if you really want to be sure then physical destruction of the disc is recommended…Semtex does a reasonably good job, but for the home user an angle grinder and a 12 llb sledgehammer on an iron anvil, applied with determination and persistence, followed by generous use of an oxy acetylene torch together with wide spread distribution of the resultant dust (use breathing and full safety protections!) will probably go a long way to instilling confidence in the level of security obtained.

Data destruction is an important and serious area, and often folks take it all too lightly….. here's some keywords, that if you use in your search engines will help focus your initial research in the correct areas so you can obtain an overview of the implications.

• Dod wipe standard
• NSA
• Guttman

here's a useful link for further info:
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=20068
Dban and also Eraser are good for the "home user"

Hope this helps with your studies but post back if you need further info.
Regards
paws

Yeah I do see your point about that and I'll try and look into that a bit more on the forum with you guys (time bearing) as I have been approved for Malware training now yey hehe so will be concentrating mostly on that

Its a bit of both I'm looking for Software and Hardware. I'll look into a few more books, I just hate that the Books become out-of-date so quickly and then need throwing away. I still have books from 1997-2006 which are obsolete lol. I do have some Vista books and XP besides.

Excellent post Paws, some of your points I know previously and also you made further points which confirms a few things and also talks a little more about the whole process. I'll take a look at the link and also do a search for those keywords soon and see what I come up with. My one and only concern regarding this fascination is how it works, if it's really safe and if I sold my PC on or scrapped it nobody could go fishing for data from my system, thats the only reason for me securely deleting anything on my hard-drive

If you use a program like DBAN and let it do it's secure (3 pass I believe) rewrite, no one other than (as Paws said), the CIA, FBI or NSA will get anything from that drive.

Found this to be quite interesting, take a look and post your views:

Secure Deletion

To recover a byte, however, correct head positioning would have to be precisely repeated eight times, and the probability of that is only 0.97 per cent. Recovering anything beyond a single byte is even less likely.

That sounds quite promising, you would have to be pretty well determine to search at that rate and even then only a 0.97% chance of gaining ANYTHING!!!

I believe it.

I took a little text from another site I just researched and found the following: While the highest level of security for data destruction can be achieved by perforating or shredding the hard drive, this procedure significantly decreases the sustainable value of the computer and may impose an additional cost if the computer is leased. The next level of security below physical destruction is “purging.” Until recently, “degaussing” – the act of subjecting a hard drive to intense magnetic fields - was the only option for eradicating data with this level of security. A major problem with degaussing is that it renders the drive inoperable once subjected to the magnetic fields. A new option for purging data from a hard drive is to engage a firmware feature found in hard drives that have been manufactured after 2004. This feature, called “Secure Erase,” destroys all data on the hard drive once selected. “Secure Erase” itself is a standard that has been adopted by the ANSI T13 committee that defines the interface standards on how modern PC/Mobile (ATA) hard drives work. The bottom line is that data destruction capabilities are already built into modern-day hard drives. Again something else that looks promising but never heard of it before now, has anyone else and if so, had any dealing with it?