Computer help, please and thanks!

[Vanessa Valentine]

Hi,

I'm selling my PC to my roommate. I've cleaned out all of my pictures, word files, etc and emailed them to my new laptop. I've deleted everything on my PC and emptied my recycling bin.

I have a friend who'll do someweird thing to my PC to completely eradicate anything in my computer system that I don't want my roommate to EVER have access to, just in case. I have nude photos, etc and shewould freak if she found them- not that she has ANY idea how to do anything more than chat on yahoo, but you know...safety, etc. I can't get ahold of him, and I need help to do this:

In my IE window, I store all of my Favorite links in the Favorites Folder. I have a TON of links. I've divided them all into folders and I've even zipped each of those Folders to make them compact for when I transfer them into my laptop.

HOW CAN I TRANSFER my Favorites folder links? I'll die if I need to write them down and physically store them onto my laptop!!!

Help please!

 

[Keebler Elf]

I went through the exact same thing.

- click on the Start button
- click on Search
- click All files and folders
- type in "favorites" (American spelling - no "u")

A list will appear. Look for the folder in the shape of a star - that's the one you're looking for.

Alternatively, go to Documents and Settings (on whichever drive your operating system is on) and simply copy the favourites folder onto a floppy disk then paste it into the same folder on your laptop.

Voila!


p.s. there are ways to recover data that's been deleted - even after formatting. But they're not easy and usually require special software or people who know how to do it (i.e. beyond your roommates skill).

 

[hamermill]

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites

Replaces "all users" with your user name. If you are foolish enough to surf as an administrator copy the contents of C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites

 

[WhOiSyOdAdDy?]

or in IE, you can use the export wizard to export your favourites to a file.. then use the import wizard to import them on the other computer

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

Wow- thanks for the quick replies! I'm going to try your suggestions and i'll let you know if I was successful, or...truly blonde!

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites

Replaces "all users" with your user name. If you are foolish enough to surf as an administrator copy the contents of C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites

Yes, I have been surfing as the administrator...oops?

V.

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

Okay, nothing is working...

I've tried every suggestion except the export wizard thing, cuz I have no idea where to find that...

There is no C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites
path for me to use, and I even tried replacing the Admin part with my other screen name thing- no luck...


V.

 

[havingfun]

Okay, nothing is working...

I've tried every suggestion except the export wizard thing, cuz I have no idea where to find that...

There is no C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites
path for me to use, and I even tried replacing the Admin part with my other screen name thing- no luck...


V.

not C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites
but
C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Favorites

Which operating system are you using?

 

[havingfun]

Okay, nothing is working...

I've tried every suggestion except the export wizard thing, cuz I have no idea where to find that...

Open Internet Explorer - Click on File in the top left corner. A menu will appear and there should be an option to Import and Export (depending on which version of Explorer you are using)

 

[WhOiSyOdAdDy?]

I've tried every suggestion except the export wizard thing, cuz I have no idea where to find that...

Sorry.. I forgot that you were blonde!!

when you open IE, click on "File" on the top left of the screen,

go to Import & Export

select "Export Favourites" & save the file on your desktop or somewhere you can easily find it.

then use the same thing once you move the file to the other computer, selecting "Import Favourites"

 

[johnnyhandsome]

Just make sure you dont delete my picture from your hard drive, miss valentine.

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

not C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites
but
C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Favorites

Which operating system are you using?

Windows XP on my PC and XP professional on my laptop.

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

Ahhh!

It worked! I used the import/ export thingy! Woohoo! Thank you everyone!!!

V.

 

[svtcobra]

You can try to erase stuff on your computer, but I am sorry to say if you do delete it is still recoverable. Even when the hard drive has ben totaly formated of fdisk. I own a piece of software (Which I may say that is very expensive) that I use allot in my business that allow me to recover any lost data from a down computer system hard drives or any sort of data loss. I can tell you I have found some weird stuff on my client's computer systems but.

I am not trying to scare you Miss V. But if your friend is very knowledgeable with computer she can do it, but it is not that easy to do it. IF I were you I will fdisk your hard drive and reload your operating system on it. and start installing software all over again.. I know it is time consumeing but if you want nothing on there to be found that is one way you could do it. I know it is a pain in the ass but if you are worried about important data found that may help in clearing your mind.

 

[svtcobra]

oops I didn't read all of Keebler Elf post.. Sorry..

You favorites folder should be located C:\Documents and Settings\(Your regular login screen name)\favorites folder.


For example C:\Documents and Settings\Miss Valentine\favorites

That is for XP Pro. You can copy and past it on a floppy and transfer it back to your new laptop

 

[canucklehead]

U need to use Scrubber then reinstall the OS, the military strength wiping of the drive will overwrite your info 115 times and takes about 8 hours for 200 gig drive. It is the only thing i will ever use when i sell one of my computers. I have equipment and software that can let me get info off of drives that don't even spin.
Every web site log in and ban site u have gone to is on your computer and if you don't know what you are doing she can have access to that info.

 

[Vanessa Valentine]

Okay, so aside from clearing the cookies, files, offline content and cached files...what else can I do to "clean" my hard drive? No offense to her or to her heritage, but she is Romanian and speaks very little English. I'm the one that teaches her how to surf the 'net and chat on yahoo. I doubt she'll be interested in searching the computer for anything.

V.

 

[ham2004]

For years now Symantec/Norton's products have been using the US military standard for wiping the unwanted files from the hard drive. Best investment is a copy of Norton systemworks and read the manual..

 

[XoticDancee]

Okay, so aside from clearing the cookies, files, offline content and cached files...what else can I do to "clean" my hard drive? No offense to her or to her heritage, but she is Romanian and speaks very little English. I'm the one that teaches her how to surf the 'net and chat on yahoo. I doubt she'll be interested in searching the computer for anything.

V.

This is probably overkill, but you might want to defrag the hard drive too. This will rearrange the files and place all of them in contiguous sections on the drive. This will make it harder to "undelete" things from your drive.

The defrag utility can be found in
Start->Program Files->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

Also you may want to delete any system temporary files. These are files that will hang around after you open archives or install applications. The easiest way to do this is to open the My Computer and right click on the icon for the drive wherre the O/S is installed. Then click on the Properties menu item. On the window that comes up there should be a button called Disk Cleanup... Windows will go off and try to find all of the temporary files that are eligible for deletion. When it is done it will list all of the category of files that are eligible for deletion and how much of each type there are. You can delete the files in any of the temporary categories.