Posted: 2/13/2006 11:27:12 PM EDT
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I stumbled across a website yesterday that I'd rather not have ever seen. Without going into details, lets say a short letter and a couple links were forwarded to the FBI on my part. I'm currently running all of my antivirus, spyware, etc. software, I deleted my history, files, etc. and am about to do a defrag. I want to make sure all traces of that shit are gone, permanently. I don't want some overzealous JBT looking me up after reading my e-mail and deciding that I'd look good on his resume. And if I get another virus on my comp and send it to the campus lab, I REALLY don't want to find out that there was something hidden on it somewhere and get the cops called on me for something I want no part of. Is there some sort of free, reliable software I can download that'll get rid of any of that stuff that might still be lingering? And won't infect me with its own spyware, etc.? Better yet, one that overwrites the deleted space repeatedly so deleted information can't be reconstructed? I want it all GONE. It's bad enough finding that shit, I feel filthy just thinking about it. I'd really rather not get royally screwed just for finding it. |
The only thing I know of besides a good format and a mulitple zero overwrite is "Evidence Eliminator". I don't think it's free though. Don't worry, I have found some really sick shit over the years and the FBI hasn't paid me a visit. |
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System Mechanic has an Incinerator program attached to it, that will write over deleted spaces up to 10 times (it says NSA standards are 7) with zeroes. Its not free, but umm...*cough* you dont necessarily have to cough up dough if you know where to look...*cough* |
I'm just paranoid. Especially since the guys in the frat I'm joining went to all the pledge's rooms and looked around for anything suspicious like booze, drugs, or porn. Including on people's computers. Before I went through and cleaned everything up. My life is hard enough as it is. I REALLY don't need people getting the wrong impression about me. I SHOULD be okay though; I told one of my college buddies (who is also in the frat I'm joining, surprise surprise) about a similar incident I had last year. I ended up getting a virus and formatting the comp that time though.  Both times, I ended up in places I didn't want to be while surfing websites in a foreign language. Apparently, half the links on Japanese websites aren't something your typical Arfcommer finds kosher.
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WTF kind of frat is that? |
We're a Christian university. The frat I'm joining is a service group; we do community service, Bible study groups, etc. More than a few of the members are known to be party animals, though. |
Password your damn PC like RIGHT NOW!!! Not a Windows one, but a BIOS one.... No one messes with my PC, I dont care who they are. |
You just need to learn how to hide that stuff and lock your computer up tighter than a drum. Shut it down every night after you put a BIOS password on it, then keep the tower inside a locked box so they cant open up the case and flash your BIOS to reset the password. |
I just put a windows password and screensaver password on it. I dunno much about computers, so the whole BIOS thing is foreign to me. And I sincerely doubt they'd be dedicated enough to crack open my comp and break their way into it. I'm also not worried about any future inspections, which I agreed to let them do for the six weeks I'm pledging. I mean, it's not like I'm into anything illegal. I'm just worried about the might-be's. The timing could not be worse. Edit: stupid typos. |
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Get a Mac and use Apple's FileVault to encrypt your home directory. FileVault |
Wont stop the .gov, thats for sure. 
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Just start a word document titled "The World Wide Web-The New Sodom and Gomorrah", then anything they find, you can say is research. 
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The NSA even recommends it for government computers. NSA Operating Systems Guides |
I think the point was that if the gov wants to see what's on your computer, the FileVault thingy wouldn't even slow them down. |
Not saying it isnt good, but I can garuntee you the .gov has better ways of retriving info if they want it bad enough. |
Well, I'm pretty sure I won't have to worry about legal problems resulting from this. Now all I have to worry about is personal reputation if my potential frat brothers came across this and assumed the worst, which would be a reasonable expectation, I suppose.  I mean, how often do you that filth on someone's computer and it ISN'T out and out evidence?
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DoD wipe is about 6 hours. 
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Seriously, if you have cleared your history, your cookies, and your Recent Documents (in start), you will probably be fine. Unless those frat brothers are NSA hacking instructors straight out of MIT (and a stint in levenworth for hacking), you should be fine. Unless you leave a big-assed file on your desktop labeled "SPANK BANK" with all your porn in it... You could always make a bit of a maze through some folders, make the porn folder something unlikely, say, "temp_" right there on C:. Then make a Tech Comp I inside your english subfolder of your School Work folder, and make it a shortcut to your "temp_" porn file. It will look like legit work on one end, and a legit computer directory made by windows on the other. If you want to be even more sneaky about it, bury that inside a really obscure directory inside System32 or a WINNT subfolder. After going through about 10 of those folders, if they even are pretending to be as Nazi-thourough as they act, they will give up. There. I have just helped you keep your porn so safe that your own mother could surf the computer for a month and never find it, as long as your file naming conventions were as innocuous as common windows files. Hell, name the files in abbreviations and number the files in each folder. You would have to have a wild hair to search for plain old "1.jpg" or something. 
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If you get spam or get linked to a kiddy-porn site, forward it to your own ISP so they can add it to their spam filter. They can quickly find out if it's worth reporting to the FBI or not (if the server it's hosted on is on the other side of the planet, the FBI can't do a whole lot about it). You can look up domain and registrar info yourself at www.dnsstuff.com/ To get rid of any evidence on your PC, you can clear the internet temp files (first) empty the recycling bin (second) defrag (third) and then run a wiping utility that can do free-space wiping (fourth, do them in order). Eraser is the name of one free one: www.heidi.ie/eraser/ Eraser lets you control the number and type of overwrites, up to 999 times I think in any byte type you want including random. Doing a free-space wipe can take a couple hours. ....but honestly, you really don't need to worry too much about inadvertently clicking on one site and getting thrown in jail. The people who get arrested for this stuff typically have HUGE amounts of it. If you only visited once, the ISP's own traffic records are going to show that. ~ |
And that's the most important bit, the ISP's records, doesn't really matter if you clear your own HDD up, cos the ISP will have it. Keep a record of the correspondance with the FBI/etc to show that it was accidental and you reported it, you should be good. /PHil |
You spend far too much time thinking about this. Remind me never to use your computer; the mouse might be sticky.
Maybe. Unless they decide I'm some sort of pervert, in which case any of several things could happen: 1) I get kicked out of the frat before I'm even accepted in 2) I get expelled from the school 3) The cops get called 4) Word gets around that I'm a pervert In all four cases, I have to justify myself and prove I wasn't doing anything wrong. Sounds easy, unless you're familiar with how the ATF works half the time.  You're guilty until proven innocent, and not everyone wants to hear what you have to say on the subject. Especially once a group opinion is formed.
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Just DiskPart it: DiskPart is not mentioned by the security weenies because it can't be run on a live OS drive, but rest assured, it is one hell of a wrecking ball. You'll need a Bart's PE disk but running a simple diskpart will probably make everything nice. diskpart.exe -> select disk 0 -> clean all It zeros every byte on the hard disk, from the MBR to the end of the drive. Once a drive is Zeroed, there really isn't much that can be done with it, especially since Aureal densities are now so high that the so-called "Electron Microscope" reading of the disk won't work like it did 10 years ago on <2GB disks. |
Ah. They make devices for that now. Tap a foot pedal and the game instantly disappears- no minimized screens, no sound effects still playing, etc. Just tap the pedal again or enter a password and the game restores to the screen right where you left off. I think they call it the Boss Evader or something. |
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if you don't want your fart brothers seeing what you viewed. use ccleaner if the government is involved it doesn't matter how many low level or deframents you do they will still find that info. |
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The only way to be rid of data is to over-write it several times with random one and zero patterns. Do a free space over-write with 15 or 20 passes, and any data will be impossible to recover. (Even the .gov's powers are limited with proper file wipes...) Always password protect your workstation. |
Yes, but there's a limit as to what's acceptable evidence in court. So, are we talking about legal CYA or are we talking about national-security secrets here? There is an exception for certain stuff, if you don't mean to run across it and you immediately delete it to the best of your abilities, you're fine -- no law broken. As for deleting the history, etc -- that does almost nothing to protect you when it comes to computer forensics. |
thats what he said he's worried about |
??????????????? |