Sending someone in a panic...

[iamwhatiseem]

Oops.
So I look at Facebook a few times a week because I belong to a couple social groups.
one of them has 17,000 members.
Anyway... a post someone made about wanting to donate two laptops of theirs so someone less fortunate could use them, but was concerned about making sure none of their data was seen.
Long story short - they got bad advice. And they took it.
Two different people told then all you have to do is go to the restore section in the control panel and choose "restore to factory settings".
Coming late to the party (by 2 days) I said well that doesn't actually delete anything. All it does is flag all of the data so Windows doesn't display it and can be overwritten. All of the data is still there by anyone knowing how. All of it.
Within a minute the dude sends me a DM... "is this true?? Seriously??" i wasn't going to reply, as I generally don't to DMs, but I said yes that is true and supplied a link to a trusted well known site that says exactly that.
The guy DMs back, the panic is impossible not to see. "I really can't let anyone see my old data, how would they see it if Windows won't display it - I told him... he is freaking out.
Feel sorry for the dude as he already gave them away, and they already gave them away.
I do wonder what he was so panicked about...

 

[Manonthestreet]

How bout sledge hammers and strong magnets?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

How bout sledge hammers and strong magnets?

Like I say... I didn't see the post till after he got bad advice.

 

[HaShev]

Oops.
So I look at Facebook a few times a week because I belong to a couple social groups.
one of them has 17,000 members.
Anyway... a post someone made about wanting to donate two laptops of theirs so someone less fortunate could use them, but was concerned about making sure none of their data was seen.
Long story short - they got bad advice. And they took it.
Two different people told then all you have to do is go to the restore section in the control panel and choose "restore to factory settings".
Coming late to the party (by 2 days) I said well that doesn't actually delete anything. All it does is flag all of the data so Windows doesn't display it and can be overwritten. All of the data is still there by anyone knowing how. All of it.
Within a minute the dude sends me a DM... "is this true?? Seriously??" i wasn't going to reply, as I generally don't to DMs, but I said yes that is true and supplied a link to a trusted well known site that says exactly that.
The guy DMs back, the panic is impossible not to see. "I really can't let anyone see my old data, how would they see it if Windows won't display it - I told him... he is freaking out.
Feel sorry for the dude as he already gave them away, and they already gave them away.
I do wonder what he was so panicked about...

If they are just worried about passwords inside the browser then that should be no problem, but passwords saved on Docs would be easily retrievable, but most people won't try retrieving deleted and restored drives.
The person was probably worried about broker and bank accts or info that could be used for identity theft. However brokers use ip address location protections from allowing people to take such info and getting access, also they can't send money anywhere but your address of record.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

If they are just worried about passwords inside the browser then that should be no problem, but passwords saved on Docs would be easily retrievable, but most people won't try retrieving deleted and restored drives.
The person was probably worried about broker and bank accts or info that could be used for identity theft. However brokers use ip address location protections from allowing people to take such info and getting access, also they can't send money anywhere but your address of record.

What I focused on was his choice of words "my old data".
Old. He might have meant old as in data on old computer. More of a meaning of data on old computer, rather than meaning old data on computer. If you get that.
I don't know, to me that would mean data. Word docs, spreadsheets etc.

 

[The Duke]

Probably worried about passwords n stuff.

50/50 chance new owner formatted and started fresh anyhow.