Man Sues Microsoft Because of Porn
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B_Think_Kink
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hrm.. well then, that sucks for him... of course Microsoft is going to win...
not to mention that $200 000 is pocket change for them...
not to mention that $200 000 is pocket change for them...
The concept that "deleted doesn't mean gone for good" is pretty common, I thought. Unless someone just crawled out of a cave yesterday, I don't understand how they could be unaware of this.
For those of you only minutes out of the cave, here's a simplified summary: when you clear your cache or empty the recycle bin, you delete directory information, not necessarily the files themselves. In order to delete the actual files, you have to use a function called "wipe free space" or "zero all data." It can be very time-consuming, and increases wear on your storage device; that's why a simple delete only removes the directory information.
For those who are less technically inclined, it works kind of like this: if you write in a diary, and decide to do a simple delete, it's like pasting a blank sheet of paper over your previous entries, and when you wipe or zero all data, it's like actually using an eraser to remove the entries.
Yet another caveat - don't do things you KNOW are wrong, and don't do things you think are embarrassing. If you have not done it, it cannot be traced back to you. Anything you say or write or do can be.
For those of you only minutes out of the cave, here's a simplified summary: when you clear your cache or empty the recycle bin, you delete directory information, not necessarily the files themselves. In order to delete the actual files, you have to use a function called "wipe free space" or "zero all data." It can be very time-consuming, and increases wear on your storage device; that's why a simple delete only removes the directory information.
For those who are less technically inclined, it works kind of like this: if you write in a diary, and decide to do a simple delete, it's like pasting a blank sheet of paper over your previous entries, and when you wipe or zero all data, it's like actually using an eraser to remove the entries.
Yet another caveat - don't do things you KNOW are wrong, and don't do things you think are embarrassing. If you have not done it, it cannot be traced back to you. Anything you say or write or do can be.
When you delete a file only the first bit of information is deleted. The rest of the file remains recoverable until it is written over with another file. Even that doesn't keep it from being recovered.
If you do an unrecoverable format on your HDD then what ever was on it is so scrambled that it can't be reconstructed.
If you do an unrecoverable format on your HDD then what ever was on it is so scrambled that it can't be reconstructed.
dong20
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I disagree, but not knowing this is nothing to do with living in caves. Line up 100 average home non techie PC users and I'd be surprised if more than a single digit % will know this (that emptying the recycle bin etc does NOT usually properly, fully erase files) and perhaps only one or two will understand why.
That's most computer users. I suspect more people would be glad they can recover 'deleted' files than are worried they have not been zapped, I know one that was yesterday.
There's good money in data recovery.:tongue:
If you want data to be gone, and you want to be SURE about it, dip the hard drive into a vat of acid and watch it dissolve. Otherwise, yes, data can be recovered, even if you've overwritten the drive with zeros and ones. Obviously, the COST of recovering said data increases exponentially with each time your drive is completely overwritten, but it actually CAN be done.
<---flagrantly wrong. See this link: New York Credit Union League Credit Union Community
A short tutorial on computer hard drive security:
1. As has already been stated earlier in the thread, simply deleting a file from your computer by using the delete command and/or dragging it to the recycling bin doesn't mean the file is gone. What it actually does is mark that space as "available" to the hard drive, so that as and when needed, it will be written over by new information again. That's why low-level (ie a lot of the software you can buy in stores) data recovery software is so cheap. Actually, if you remember the exact path and filename, and the space has not yet been overwritten, you CAN recover your data by yourself.
2. Disk overwriting software - a lovely false sense of security. Information on your hard drive is stored in binary: 1's and 0's. What the software does is (cheapest - I don't even know if you can buy software this bad anymore) either flip each 1 to 0 and 0 to 1, or (slighly more expensive), overwrite your drive with all 1's, all 0's, and/or pseudo-random patterns of 1's and 0's (there's a reason why I say pseudo-random, but unless anyone actually asks, it's not that germane to the discussion at hand). The better your software, the more times it will do this - paranoid, yet uninformed people, go for the ones that do it ten times or more, or, just run the same software multiple times.
Granted, you've made it more difficult to recover the data, but there are MANY data recovery companies out there who do this every day - they just charge you for it. The more times you've overwritten, the more expensive it will be to recover. Also, at this point, you do start to get into the fragmentation of information, but most files can be recovered intact, and almost all of them can be at least partially recovered.
3. Degaussing. Sounds nice, doesn't it? And for the most part, it is. Degaussing is essentially a technical term for a process in which you take a really strong (specially designed, of course - ie big bucks) magnet and scramble the magnetic field in your hard drive - no organized electromagnetic field, no data. There are different strengths of degaussing, and this should clue you in to the fact that if level one isn't good enough for everything, it's probably not gonna be good enough to hide any criminal evidence you need gone. It's USUALLY quite effective, but there are times when forensic computer experts can access portions of a degaussed drive and recover information. It's not very common, and it's very expensive, but again, can be done. NB: A degaussed hard drive is not re-usable, like the above formats are, so be prepared to kiss it goodbye after you do it.
4. The aforementioned vat of acid/sledgehammer, complete disassembly and destruction of the physical drive, well, physically. Even if you glue all the little pieces back together again, the drive's not going to work :biggrin1:- at all. Complete data safety.
Food for thought - if you're going to degauss the drive, you can't use it again anyway - so why bother degaussing, just go straight for the destruction. Anything else and you can never really be sure anyway.
http://www.dss.mil/files/pdf/clearing_and_sanitization_matrix.pdf <---military matrix for disposal of computer components. Note that anything less than complete physical destruction is not allowed for drives containing "top secret" information. What should that tell you . . .?
Hope this helps, DC_DEEP.
Heather LouAnna
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It's very difficult to battle such a juggernaut as Microsoft. He wont win, obviously. If one has such dirty habits and truly wishes them to be a secret, you find better ways to hide them, rather than simply replying on a software configuration setting.
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