Is the software tool "Evidence Eliminator" the best tool on the market erase histories, deleted files, and other stuff.  Overheard a conversation that my wife was having w/ a friend and they're planning to hire an electronic pvt detective to screen my drive. I already use Window Washer, but I don't want to take any chances. Thanks.

And if you are at the point where your wife is planning on hiring a detective or the like, she already suspects foul-play so you are probably screwed anyways....

"Upgrade" and junk the other.  It will be cheaper in the long run.  Do it now.  Commercial products won't hide you from a person who really knows what he is doing.  

If you want a reasonable protection, look at a program called PGP.

Exactly. Re-formatting the drive erases everything on that/those drives. I've not heard of any way to "recover" data on a drive that has been re-formatted.

Do a low level format of the hard disk and reinstall the operating system.  More then likely, you will be ok.  I have used some of the better data recovery tools as of late and they are not THAT good.

http://www.killdisk.com has a free command line version that is easy to use.

Good luck.

-- Modified on 9/19/2003 7:45:11 AM

I wonder which is worse?. Single & lonely or Married and under suspicion.

  Good luck

  YKSY.

If you've reached the point where your wife is going to hire a private detective the last thing you need to do is spend your money on Evidence Eliminator.

Time to erase the marriage.

Just bite the bullet, give her half your stuff - actually, give her 75% of your stuff ... and get out.

-- Modified on 9/19/2003 7:46:52 AM

instead of gettin married.
You can save the time and leagal fees.
Go out and find the most detestable woman you can find, give your house and half of everything you own, then get on with your life.

depending on the OS and the drive manufacturer it actually IS possible to "recover" the contents of a re-formatted drive, cuz this process doesn't rewrite/reset EVERY bit on the storage medium, just the header blocks, boot sectors and such (if it did rewrite everything it would take a long time!)

but saying it's possible and actually doing it (recovering the contents) are two different things (and not within my powers) ... that takes us into the domain of the super-hackers and uber-geeks ... or those "black-ops" acronym'ed little devils, CIA/FBI/NSA/etc


so dudes ... if your wife is a DIC* ... be very careful!

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(*) DIC = defense intelligence consultant

Ah, thanks for the 'heads up'!  While it might take a real Pro to recover data from a re-formatted drive...if the guys wife is intent on having his computer investigated then she's probably willing to find someone who could recover the data.

I'll correct my recommendation with a two new ones: First Recommendation: remove and destroy those hard drives!  If the spouse is this suspicious, you've got some Serious Trouble. 2nd Recommendation: Get a Lawyer. You are going to need one.

That may well be the "path of least resistance".  Cutting one's losses is sometimes the best way to go.
Good Luck

a male friend of mine who is in fact in the DIC (defense intelligence community) tells me that when the CIA or NSA wants to dispose of an old machine they quite literally pulverize it to smithereens and have it shipped to a special garbage dump ... i kid you not!

i actually have a very amusing anectode regarding this but mentioning it would not be prudent ... as they say in the agency, "i have no knowledge of X nor would i be at liberty to discuss X if i did"

I once took my machine in for a couple of new parts.  The technician for some reason reformatted my hard drive and installed software he thought would be appropriate for me.  Ontrack recoverd over 100,000 files from the reformatted drive.

To see what Ontrack does recover.  Almost every dang thang!

eom

Reon't Forget Spyware

As perivous posters have stated, it is possible to recover data after a hard drive has been formated.  Replace the hard drive.

Also, remember there are a number of products available that secretly record information about what a user does with his computer.  So even if you format the hard drive you will have to discontinue using that machine for any activity you don't want you wife to discover.  In the future you will need to use a machine that your wife can't acesses and doesn't know about.  

It sounds like its time to start hiding your assets as well as your e-mails.  As others have said, you need to see an attorney now and prepare for the worst.

you've got to overwrite information at least 7 times to be safe, reformat and then pull out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer.

next put it in salt water.

Best to have a burglary. and convince wifey not to utilize insurance or the rates will go sky high.

Why oh why do you married guys do this on your home/shared computers? I've often thought that somewhere deep inside you want to get caught.

As far as singleton's so called "friends" in the intelligence community, they don't talk like that in real life.  They either look at you and smile or they tell you some story that has nothing to do with anything classified that's seems exciting to you.~~ a twenty year old tale that's no longer classified.

moi?  who'd have thunk it!  ... still you must agree that the hammer & salt water routine is not very "elegant" now is it? (or perhaps it is)

silly me, maybe you and i should have dinner sometime (off the clock of course) and i can regale you with tales from 20 years ago when i was just an endearing, sensitive and clueless-yet-idealistic young man of some years (the exact number is classified) ... what say you?

--

btw, there's an anagram or two somewhere in there, but it's wholy subliminal ... designed to entrance you ... into saying yes (to a question i haven't yet asked)

If your wife is hiring a private detective to look at your harddrive, then it's time for you to have a "catastrophic harddrive failure."  Use a hotmail account to email anything you want to keep to your work address.  Slip out and buy a new same-model harddrive (with cash), put it in, and then make a lot of noise about how the computer just stopped working.  You may or may not have a cleaner that does a better job than the detective's recovery agent.  Even if you do have the better tool, he'll know you used something on the drive when he recovers a bunch of jibberish or 1's .  "It's the damndest thing.  I opened an email and the computer just rebooted.  Now it won't come back up."  Now you can use your recovery disk or take it back to the store to have it reconfigured.  Make sure your old harddrive sleeps with Luca Braga, and your wife can be suspicious all she wants.

http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/eBlaster_Windows/entry.asp?affil=1200

Force the issue....tell her you overheard her conversation, and ask what are her concerns. See where it goes from there.

You can always play the trump card, and tell her. Maybe she'll appreciate your honesty.

Then move on....

..the FBI uses software that can recover data even after the drive is formatted!  It's not completely gone until those sectors on your drive that were formatted are written on again.

What I would do is just install a new drive which is really very simple, (Maxtor has excellent instructions for doing this)and use a program called 'copy C to D' (free) which will copy just the data you want to transfer to the new drive.

but why? if i may ask ... cuz i'm not "interesting" enough?

at this rate i just may have to PAY to be seen in public with a blonde! LOL

quit posting every day on practically every thread multiple times in your narcissitic manner.

I find you to be boring in your attempt at wit and know it all attitude.

Makes me believe you have nothing in your life that's at all worthwile, like teaching someone to read, volunteering in a classroom to help kids with math, hang out with your mensa buddies.  The list goes on.  Go ahead, flame away, make a squirrel joke, an anagram whatever, stick to the keyboard while your posture goes to hell. (I know, you've got an ergonomically correct chair.)

Quit for a week and watch, the general board WON'T come to a screeching halt.  Threads will keep on keeping on.  Same level of wit and wisdom.

There's an entire world of opportunity outside of the computer, we'll all be here when you get back.

Now go ahead, have the last word. Or, I dare you not to.

you can wipe out all info. If there is the slightest chance that you're not sure,
1) Get a powerful magnet and run it across all sides of hard drive (while this should be enough I'm more satisfied with adding the following also
2) heat the drive in an oven at 375
3) enjoy yourself with a mallet
4) let it soak in brine.

Take a break from providers for a month or?...save the money and buy a new computer(exact manufacturer and matching tower)[EOM]

then reformatted, hammered on, and dumped in the ocean? LOLOL

Forget MS Windows, switch to a Linux or OpenBSD or something like that, and use the loopback encrypted filesystems.   Recovery of any data after-the-fact will be virtually impossible (FAR beyond Ontrack's means) regardless of budget; they (whoever THEY are) will have to resort to somehow getting you to compromise your key with a keystroke logger, rubber hose, etc.

Computer security is easy, provided you think about it in advance.  If you wait until you're already compromised before you deal with it (i.e. the approach that the virus-scanner and history-eraser companies encourage you to use), then it's probably too late.  Don't think in terms of eliminating evidence; instead, don't let evidence (at least in cleartext) pile up in the first place.