Cleaning PC before donating

Urby · 12-15-2007, 12:30 PM

Hi all,

We've got a bunch of P2s and P3s at the office that are going to be donated. As far as I can tell, I've uninstalled all software except the operating system (Win2k/Pro). I have noticed that there is still some office related info that is left in the registry/network location folders. I've ran regedit and cleared the "Registered to" box in the System Properties window, but some addresses still pop up in the registry. My question is how do I go about wiping down private data without spending too much company time doing a clean os install.

(I'm the default office tech and pretty new to this.)

Thanks,

Urby

Chevy · 12-17-2007, 05:26 AM

At a minimum you should wipe the drives with BCWipe or a similar app, then do a clean install.

Otherwise you run the risk of corporate info being compromised.

2teky · 12-20-2007, 11:40 AM

You can download CCleaner for free. This program does an awesome job cleaning pc's registry and files. You can specify what you want to clean up after its dones analizing too. It only takes a couple minutes to run. Definitely worth a try, I use this on all my pc's for the company I do IT work for.

12-15-2007, 12:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
Urby Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 20 OS: XP Home SP2	Cleaning PC before donating Hi all, We've got a bunch of P2s and P3s at the office that are going to be donated. As far as I can tell, I've uninstalled all software except the operating system (Win2k/Pro). I have noticed that there is still some office related info that is left in the registry/network location folders. I've ran regedit and cleared the "Registered to" box in the System Properties window, but some addresses still pop up in the registry. My question is how do I go about wiping down private data without spending too much company time doing a clean os install. (I'm the default office tech and pretty new to this.) Thanks, Urby

12-17-2007, 05:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Cleaning PC before donating At a minimum you should wipe the drives with BCWipe or a similar app, then do a clean install. Otherwise you run the risk of corporate info being compromised.

12-20-2007, 11:40 AM	#3 (permalink)
2teky Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: USA Posts: 73 OS: XP SP2	Re: Cleaning PC before donating You can download CCleaner for free. This program does an awesome job cleaning pc's registry and files. You can specify what you want to clean up after its dones analizing too. It only takes a couple minutes to run. Definitely worth a try, I use this on all my pc's for the company I do IT work for.