how to remove all history

well i cant do a clean install and im about to sell my laptop. i just want to delete all my passwords and browsing history so i was wondering if ccleaner sufficient to clean it or is there more i should do?

 

i don't know what is cc cleaner ,
but i can remind u with somethings to delete,
-use disk clean up first
-go IE options and delete all cookies and passwords (apply this for ther browsers)
-delete all your contacts and emails from outlook client and windows contacts (after backing them ofc)
-i you really want to be sure 100 percent nothing of your data could be recovered ( in case you are working with really private and important data) just format the drive and do a clean OS install it will only take u about 1hour 30min

 

CCleaner is a great little tool that basically deletes any kind of temporary data, such as recently opend files (like from a File menu), and of course, all internet data, like browsing history, cookies, temporary files, etc.

I'm not sure why you would have passwords on your computer, unless you have your passwords saved in text files or something on your hard drive. If you are really worried about someone recovering your data, you should use an erasing program to erase sensitive files, and then format your hard drive.

If you are truly paranoid, you can always burn your hard drive, it's the only 100% way

 

You could just use a recovery disk/partition.

 

I like this option better

 

i can't stop laughing , looooooooooool

 

I suggest either performing a secure hard drive format (see the freeware program "Eraser") or take out the drive and replace with a new one. Simply formatting the drive won't do much, all of the information is still there, it's just more difficult to retrieve. The worst thing you can do is to just delete you files on the computer and empty the recycle bin. That's asking for trouble.

 

You can never erase the history that isn't on your end, ISPs have taken a nag to logging all your internet history. Check out some of the reasoned RIAA/MPAA dealings with ISPs or law enforcement getting a court order. Only way you can totally hide yourself is if you use a redirecting service with encrypted data stream, but even then they have to clear their history every now and again and thus another weak point that your not in 100% control of. Another uber paranoid solution is USB dongles one generically set up notebooks, no names and no log in, to log into an unsecured wireless network. Your HDD, CPU and MOBO serial numbers are recorded, but the fact that you can still throw away the USB dongle which should keep your MAC address a relative secret.

CCleaner is good, but doesn't clear Firefox history unless set up that way, there are nukes you can set up to wipe information, but even delete files can be retrieved if they are not over written. Overwriting can take hours depending on how big your HDD is, I use to just use a reasonably large file and keep multiplying it until the HDD is full, works verily well.

 

well the only thing im worried about is when i logged into online banking, so like can they retrieve that pretty easily or if i use ccleaner am i pretty good? cuz i dont have anything else i used my laptop for thats important

 

and im confused on how you use eraser...

 

just format c:

 

Formatting doesn't get rid of all data, you need to over write it.

I should mention I've retrieved data form a formatted drive.

 

ok lets face the truth, you are not selling the computer to a hacker 99% and you don't have CIA information on your PC
if you are still paranoid , i vote for buying a new hard disk and burning yours

 

Yup, and I've retrieved data from a hard drive that I both formatted and installed several new OSes on (in my one vain attempt to get linux up and going), including stuff that had been technically "erased" from the drive when it was still in use, and several months before it was decommissioned.

It doesn't matter if you're not selling your computer to a hacker or that you don't have top-secret CIA info on your system; unless you know everything about the person you're selling it to, and know for sure 100% that they can be trusted to never use any of your private personal info against you, then you should nuke the drive with one of the nukers listed on the free software thread (at least) - if your buyer gets bored, or curious, s/he might decide to see what can be found on the drive, and if it involves social security numbers, bank account or credit card account numbers, and online access codes, that person may all of a sudden decide to either use that data or try to sell it to someone who will, particularly given this economy. Do you really want to trust that your buyer is going to be completely incurious and never at risk of being laid off or otherwise needing some extra cash in hand?

True story - I once bought off of eBay an old _Dell that had just come off of a business lease. The seller stated that all the systems had been wiped, the OS reinstalled, and a bunch of freebie applications installed, such as Open Office. Do you think that was enough to finish off the data that had originally been on that drive? No, it wasn't. I got bored/curious one night and went exploring with one of the data recovery apps that will let you see files up to 64kb with the freebie demo version. Even with those limitations, I found enough sensitive stuff (e.g., ssns, account numbers, payroll stuff, personal stuff, etc) that I finally called the company that had originally leased the systems from _Dell (yes, it was child's play to figure out which company it was, and which particular office that system had been used in) and told them about it. They offered to buy me a new hdd and to reinstall the OS at their expense if I swapped the old one with them, which I did.

The fact of the matter is, unless you are very careful about wiping the drive off, almost everything that was saved on there will be at least partially recoverable.

 

That was probably the one of the most random things I've ever seen, but I'm glad I know now how many hard drives a .50 bmg can penetrate.

You should probably do the suggested nuke + overwrite... I forgot about those. I've looked into it before, but never really needed it (since I haven't sold any computers), I usually just erase a file if I really need to. But if/when I sell a computer, I probably will nuke it at least, just to be safe.

Funny story shyster.... my dad's company uses Dells and they used to sell their old computers, but the stopped doing that for a while. Now they sell them again, but they swap the hard drive out first

 

Unless you've saved your passwords on your system, or your using some sort of key logger on your system, there should be no trace of the password from online banking.

 

It's a funny story, until you realize just how many of those things are out there and on sale to the highest bidder, sometimes by the pallet-lot, like this one on eBay, and how many of those same units we've seen in our (i) doctors' offices, (ii) bankers' offices, (iii) lawyers' offices, (iv) accountants' offices, ...., etc., etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't some more enterprising hackers - the sort who might set up something like the conficker worm botnet and use an innocuous little "update" to advertise its capabilities to potential clients - buying these things up for pennies on the dollar just to mine the hard drives for all they're worth. A lot of federal laws impose all sorts of privacy rules on a whole bunch of different industries, but so far as I know, it isn't a criminal violation of those to dispose of a leased office computer in a way that doesn't guarantee that the hard drive is either physically destroyed or else wiped to a very high degree of security. Something like that, rather than all these silly "privacy notices" businesses are obliged to mail out every year, might actually do something useful to safeguard peoples' security.

 

You can try privacy eraser.
Will keep normal people out from finding your browing history or login names/passwords..

 

If you use CCleaner, go to the options and chose the highest level of overwrite. Then make sure you check all of the boxes that you need under the software to clean, especially the browser cookies and passwords. Also make sure to chose "wipe free space."

This is a pretty good cleaning, about as good as it gets if you don't have the OS disc to do a clean install (on a new hard drive).

 

Why would I want to erase my privacy? Isn't that the opposite of what the OP wanted?

 

True true..
Same as Fire Engine...

You call the fire engine to put out the fire..
But instead add an engine to make the fire burn more furiously..