Looking for help from the computer geeks in deleting files that won't delete.

[HEMIHUNTER]

yup it’s why I refuse when a company says “ we will pay your cell bill if you use your phone “

Nope I’ll carry two phones.

Me too, when MY phone rings, it’s not about work.


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[DriftwoodSVT]

I never understood why people do personal things on work computers. I had a work phone and computer in the past. The most personal thing on both was me visiting this site.

You'd never believe how many resumes, cover letters, drivers licenses, social security cards, divorce papers, personal budgets I find on our Legislature's network. The things I see!

 

[quad]

Thanks to those who provided helpful suggestions. Yeah, I was thinking that he is either going to have to just turn it in with his "harmless" personal files/email, or wipe the hard drive (if that's even possible depending on what rights he has as Administrator). He can't keep it because it is company property and he's required to turn it in. I seriously doubt he wants to engage in a legal battle over the computer.

He probably does not have administrative rights on the computer. My wife has the same restrictions.

If I was in his shoes and the files were really sensitive then:

I would take the hard drive out of the computer and put it in another computer with another OS drive and log on as administrator. Then you should be able to access the files and delete them. You might be prompted to get permission to access the folders as well. Once deleted just pop the drive back in the work computer, close it all up and boot up to make sure everything is all good. If the files are not critical or very personal I wouldn't bother.

On an unrelated note: I have gotten myself in trouble before - more than once - after hacking the password of the administrator account on two occasions. I used a brute force method to get the passwords lol! I won't bother with this anymore. I did this about 25 years ago and my intentions weren't malicious. I had deadlines on two separate occasions and needed the machines to render animations. So I hijacked them for a few hours to get the animations rendered.

 

[01yellercobra]

You'd never believe how many resumes, cover letters, drivers licenses, social security cards, divorce papers, personal budgets I find on our Legislature's network. The things I see!

I'm sure I would. At my last job we all had our own laptop. I guess people thought we wouldn't see their desktops when they connected to the overhead projectors.

 

[ssj4sadie]

****’em

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[2KBlackGT]

It's odd that he want to delete "harmless" files from a work PC but was comfortable enough to use it for personal things in the first place.

We get new PC's/Laptops every few years, I've used some for personal use and didn't have any issue when they were turned in. Like someone else said they already can see what I'm doing or have done on the server anyway. I say just turn it in and don't worry about it.

I'd think the longer he takes to turn it in the more suspicious they'll become and actually start looking into it when he does turn it in.

 

[hotcobra03]

Thanks to those who provided helpful suggestions. Yeah, I was thinking that he is either going to have to just turn it in with his "harmless" personal files/email, or wipe the hard drive (if that's even possible depending on what rights he has as Administrator). He can't keep it because it is company property and he's required to turn it in. I seriously doubt he wants to engage in a legal battle over the computer.

He should ask if he can buy it back

My wife’s job her cell she keeps when then update every 2 yrs

Laptop I use for just this site but have
Large manuals installed on them

Master copy 03/04 ford all cars/truck
Is saved on it. Yet now cd-rom is history

 

[CobraBob]

He probably does not have administrative rights on the computer. My wife has the same restrictions.

If I was in his shoes and the files were really sensitive then:

I would take the hard drive out of the computer and put it in another computer with another OS drive and log on as administrator. Then you should be able to access the files and delete them. You might be prompted to get permission to access the folders as well. Once deleted just pop the drive back in the work computer, close it all up and boot up to make sure everything is all good. If the files are not critical or very personal I wouldn't bother.

On an unrelated note: I have gotten myself in trouble before - more than once - after hacking the password of the administrator account on two occasions. I used a brute force method to get the passwords lol! I won't bother with this anymore. I did this about 25 years ago and my intentions weren't malicious. I had deadlines on two separate occasions and needed the machines to render animations. So I hijacked them for a few hours to get the animations rendered.

Great advice! I'll pass it along to him. Thanks!

It's odd that he want to delete "harmless" files from a work PC but was comfortable enough to use it for personal things in the first place. We get new PC's/Laptops every few years, I've used some for personal use and didn't have any issue when they were turned in. Like someone else said they already can see what I'm doing or have done on the server anyway. I say just turn it in and don't worry about it.

I'd think the longer he takes to turn it in the more suspicious they'll become and actually start looking into it when he does turn it in.

That was my recommendation earlier today. And like I said earlier, he is fine with that if it's what he has to do, and he must turn in the computer on Monday.

 

[BigPoppa]

Great advice! I'll pass it along to him. Thanks!


That was my recommendation earlier today. And like I said earlier, he is fine with that if it's what he has to do, and he must turn in the computer on Monday.

It won't work if bitlocker is turned on. The drive will be encrypted. If their IT goes as far to not give users delete privileges, I would imagine the drive has bitlocker turned on.

But, you can still use that method to delete the entire partition through disk management or 3rd party partition management software.

 

[BOOGIE MAN]

@CobraBob I would strongly recommend getting a hold of Hillary Clinton. She'll get it taken care of for him.

I hear bleachbit works wonders

Posts and likes are not mine.

 

[CobraBob]

He actually got advice from friends very similar to what some of you posted. So, he’s decided to just turn it in as is. He has nothing “bad” on the drive so he’s not worried about management fussing.


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[03Sssnake]

I have several commercial appliances to do this fast, we wipe all pc’s that we donate/recycle... you can boot to pre-execution environment and use a number of wipe utilities or just buy another hdd in the correct form factor and capacity for that notebook. They are easy to swap on most models, do that and call it done.

 

[CobraG]

Check out Lazesoft.

 

[CobraBob]

Just to reiterate, as a final update. My brother-in-law decided to do nothing with the personal files on his business computer. Time is short, so he's just going to return the computer tomorrow as is.

Thanks for your suggestions and input.

 

[ViciousJay]

I seriously cannot understand how not one person, thee are two things he can do.

1. Find a takeOwnership program, bob if you need hit me up
2. find the command to running GOD mode and run as a local admin if possible, HDD raids are 1 to 1 so it should kill the file all together

 

[CobraBob]

Thanks Jay.

He is going to meet with his boss this morning and ask if he can buy it. If they give him a fair/good price he'll buy it since he will now need to buy a laptop for home. Otherwise he'll just turn it in.

 

[RedVenom48]

Interesting way to ask about deleting pron files....