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How to wipe a computer?

andruoid said:
for wiping without remorse I suggest an Oxy/Fuel torch and melt it down ...try to recover from 6000F :)
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Handling oxy/fuel requires skill .If he burns his arm,then it would also be unrecoverable. BTW is that symbol of trisquel Linux?

Of course dismantling the HDD and using the parts for other purpose is also a killer technique.
Make a treasure map too so your grandkids will try to rebuild the HDD for the hidden treasure within .Last surviving copy of windows 3.1 .:D
 
karandpr said:
Handling oxy/fuel requires skill .If he burns his arm,then it would also be unrecoverable. BTW is that symbol of trisquel Linux?
Click to expand...

Good point about the OxyFuel, always handle with great care.

It is indeed the Trisquel GNU/Linux symbol. I have used Mint since version 9 however, just recently switched over to Trisquel when they released 4.5.1. My new system has a built in RealTek Gb Ethernet which Mint 11, Ubuntu Server and Trisquel just didn't like. So I disabled it in my BIOS and installed my trusty 11 year old 3Com 905C PCI. Works like a charm :-)
 
I have some software with my Western Digital hard disks that will write zero's to each and every sector of the drive. If you could find some software to do similar to your drive, you might achieve the desired effect.
 
Or if you really want to destroy the drive, get a hold of some iron oxide (rust). This can be procured by placing two iron nails in a jar of water and running an electrical current through them over night. Drain off the rust and dry it out. Now grind it up nice and powdery.
Next, you need to procure some aluminium powder. Aluminium is tin foil (certain brands). Powder it and mix it with the dried rust.
Next, procure yourself a piece of magnesium ribbon. You'll need to make a nice long fuse to attach to this. Put the compound ontop of your drive, place the magnesium ribbon and attached fuse into the compound. Light the fuse, and RUN!!!

When the magnesium is lit it will start a chain reaction that will cause the compound to burn at 3500 degrees celcius. That's enough to melt through the engine block of a car, or your hard disk.

Hope this is helpful.

EDIT - This is for the purposes of humour only, I don't recommend you actually try this for obvious health and safety reasons. Also I accept no responsibility for how you use this information.
 
RisingMoon said:
I have some software with my Western Digital hard disks that will write zero's to each and every sector of the drive. If you could find some software to do similar to your drive, you might achieve the desired effect.
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Thats what is known as wiping a partition. Mini tool partition wizard does the same for all hard disks. In fact D0D 7 standard is powerful technique

SeekerOfTheWay said:
I'm really glad you added the edit. I was about to light the fuse!
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I am curious about the content of your HDD.Are you a super secret agent working as undercover human from planet foobakoombie ?
 
No, the thread got way off topic actually. If you read my earlier posts, youll see I stated that I actually have no important data on the Pc. I want to wipe it becuase there possible may be a virus and it is running super slowly.
 
SeekerOfTheWay said:
No, the thread got way off topic actually. If you read my earlier posts, youll see I stated that I actually have no important data on the Pc. I want to wipe it becuase there possible may be a virus and it is running super slowly.
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I see . :D . I suppose any LXDE Linux will work fine on your specs !!
 
SeekerOfTheWay said:
I have an old computer that was given to me. When I got it it was all cleared out. I used it with my Blackberry and the Tether app to get online to load caches onto my GPS.

I think there might be a virus on it, and it's also very slow. I stopped using it when I got my Android.

Is there a way I can wipe the comouter completely and start new, while getting rid of any virus or key logging things?

Thanks. If not, I am going to get rid of it.
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just reinstall your window which is compatible to your
system and then immediately install an updated anti virus.
I am sure that it will help you to speed up your system.
 
ooberops said:
I was gonna say linux. Ubuntu is pretty friendly and free and has lots of support for drivers and stuff.... Good luck finding an ide drive...... i have one next to my vcr. LOL..... no. I dual boot W7U64 and Ubuntu 64 and love them both. Make sure u dload the correct version of Ubuntu though. One for intel and one for amd chipsets.
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There is a lot more to linux than Ubuntu. For a righ this old with specs this low, you do not want to run Ubuntu, or any of the higher speced Distros. you want something that uses minimal resources, that is simple and powerful. If he had enough specs and knoweldge I would say go with asomething pure debian based, maybe with an LXDE Desktop. I don't think he has the specs to run even that very well. IMHO, his best shot is to run an ultr light distribution. In that regard, some of the best preconfigured ultralight distributions are actually made by Puppy. Just find a pupplet that meets your needs and run that. a computer this old should be able to handle it without a problem and he'll be able to extend the life of the machine for a few more years.
 
When I'm not sure I tend to go with They/Them/Their. Seems like a happy medium. ;) Their computer is old, they need to find a solid Linux distro, I hope this can help them... now-a-days with multiple personalities being so trendy, it works even better.
 
Well, I can't do any of the suggestions because I don't have internet access or a hammer. I don't want to put any money into this beast.

Im giving it away on freecycle or local goodwill. Thanks for all the input, and the mods can feel free to lock this thread up.
 
If you don't have internet access, how are you posing here? :confused:

If you don't have high speed internet access just go to your local library and use one of their computers to download a copy of your linux distro of choice. take that home and install it on the computer and be done with it.
 
Um...my Android phone... :)

Local library doesn't allow downloading or uploading or installing. I can't even get onto Google+ or Gtalk there.

Like I said, I'm giving it away.
 
SeekerOfTheWay said:
No, the thread got way off topic actually. If you read my earlier posts, youll see I stated that I actually have no important data on the Pc. I want to wipe it because there possible may be a virus and it is running super slowly.
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A 333 MHz or 400 MHz Celeron or Pentium II with 384MB RAM was a kick a*s processor - back in the 90's :p My Droid X has a 1 GHZ processor and 512MB RAM ;) and even that is outdated now that quad core processors are on the market...
 
Lol, that's old. The 90s though...good times.

I haven't had a computer since 2000. Hey, can a usb cable be plugged into a tab?!
 
SeekerOfTheWay said:
Local library doesn't allow downloading or uploading or installing.
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Well if you are ever interested, speak to your librarian, they often help students out by downloading Linux OS ISO's for them. As I understand it, librarians tend to be big proponents of linux.

look at it this way, anyone you give the computer to will almost certainly have to do this in order to make the computer usable again.
 
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