Apologies to Mods if this has to be delelted, I will be as indirectly direct as possible.

I acquired a .zip file from a very common webpage service. The filename matched my search criteria, a name. However, the actual content once I obtained the file was FUCKING DISGUSTING and ILLEGAL in my country. I was extremely upset, deleted said files.

Lesson learned:

1. You never know what sick bastards are out there and the fucked up things they will do to disseminate disgusting material and their "sense of humor". Literally.

I sent this stuff to my recycling bin, deleted it. Am I left open, for whatever reason for someone who happens to search my harddrive to be able to see that I had this certain file and unzipped it? Would it show that it was immediately deleted?

So I am giving heads up to anyone who obtains files from places other then rapidshare/mega. Be careful.

I am also asking if anyone can help me make sure that this particular is completely erradicated from ever being on my PC.(I know it isn't, espec since I am XP)

I know this is a touchy subject, I understand if this post needs to be deleted, however I feel its an appropriate subject on a board consisting of legal surfers, sharing pages with legal material. I guarantee that many others on the board have encountered other webpages or received files just like I did, but don't want to talk about it. However, I will take a risk and let people know that this shit happens and how to fix it.

Thanks, Oso

Osito wrote:

I am also asking if anyone can help me make sure that this particular is completely erradicated from ever being on my PC.(I know it isn't, espec since I am XP)

EvidenceEliminator® and/or WindowWasher®

http://www.evidence-eliminator.com

http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/windowwasher

With WebRoot you can download a free trial-version. In 99.9% of the cases it will do the 'trick' with this freeware. You'll be amazed what it finds on your HD after a first sweep.....   On other hand buying the software at $.29.95 will not ruin you. I use WW 6.0 with full satisfaction.

--------

With these 'unmentionable' places you allways have to be extremely cautious and think twice before you start downloading.

 

Osito,

Why would we delete a thread like this when it could be helpful (like you said) to people that have had this happen?? Not sure what you could have said that would have called for deletion....have you seen the Sick and Offensive Jokes thread in *Funny Stuff* ??. Even our admin enjoys some twisted stuff once in awhile, I know I do. Next time just say what exactly happened and don't be afraid of censorship from us.

Anyways....the programs Funky has recommended, while fine programs, only are useful for things that have not yet been deleted. As you said, you deleted it to your recycle bin and then deleted it from the recycle bin. And yes, it is still possibly retrievable off of your hard drive with the right tools. For instance there are many programs that do a so-called "undelete", for things that have been accidentily deleted. Now comes the tricky part. When a file or folder is deleted from the recycle bin, it is still on your hard drive....until Windows places a file directly over it. In other words Windows will place it (the deleted file) on an open spot of the drive but will not acknowledge that it is still present anywhere in it's controls. When you download and/or install new programs or files, Windows will use all available space to avoid the spot where the recycle bin deleted files are located (to facilitate undeletion) until it can find no more open space, at which time the files are "overwritten".When this happens it makes the file very difficult to recover, but hardly impossible. For instance if the FBI or another similar organization seized your computer for whatever reason, they can and will recover such data.What you should do next time this happens (if it does) is go get a so-called "secure file deleter" such as this free one: http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlsimplefileshredder.html.

What programs such as this do is create a set of random data (usually zeros) and writes them over the data file. The number of times these zeros are placed over the file (called passes) are performed, dictates how "secure" the deletion is. Military specs call for 3+ passes to meet D.O.D. guidelines, but to really make a file unretrievable, I recommend 7 passes. Simply tell the program which file to delete and set the number of "passes" and it is gone forever. Obviously take care to assure that the file you choose is indeed the file you want gone, because there will be no turning back once this process is completed. Hope this helps you and others. Cheers....

F~

Further information regarding file deletion:

http://www.jetico.com/bcwipe3.htm

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html

You will not be able to absolutely remove traces of data from your drive. You can only make it uneconomical to retrieve said data. Of course, if the usability of the drive is no concern, your options are much more open :)

Note that this is not a solution to the original topic. No matter how clean your drives are, a single log with your IP will totally ruin your day ;)

So what can you do if The Man wants to screw you? Not much :)))))

Eraser:

http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

.



http://www.safeit.com/products/shredding/




.

Hi Osito,

This is a problem that affects most of us at some time. If your a link surfer like me, then always ending up in rather dubious places.

So what to do?, yep as the lads say, a scrubber is a good idea, the ones mentioned are quite adequate.

But, how about not letting it near your hard drive in the first place?

Get secondary storage/second remote drive, even floppy disc's. Download direct to that, then you can virus check it and have a peek, without any worry!...Dont like it...Bin it!

The little usb memory sticks are useful, and getting cheaper.

Drum

hi, the best program to use has been given - Eraser, however the link given is old, the software was sold afew years ago to Heidi. you can get a newer version at the link below.
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

make sure when you download any file (pictures) it's to the place you want to keep it. if it's not and you move the picture from where it's downloaded an image will still be on your HDD, but it wont be allocated on the HDD table so, in effect, it's the same as deleting the file from the recycle bin.

you can use Eraser to clean free space (where files from the recycle bin go) by opening Eraser and right-clicking on a free part of the page, then select "new task". on the drop-down menu select local drives, make sure "Unused space on drive" is selected, then click OK. it should appear on the page. highlight your new task by right-clicking then click on "Run" Eraser will then clean all the things you have deleted from your recycle bin and anything else that's been deleted. run it overnight as it will take afew hours.

you can delete things with Eraser by right-clicking and selecting eraser, the default times it over-writes is 35 times, that should be secure, but you can change it to as many times as you like.

your ISP keeps records of the places you have been, you can use an anonymous proxy to hide from your ISP. an encrypted connection will be made to the proxy. and your connection will go through afew servers at the proxy's site. the proxy host wont know your traffic from others using the service just all the end connections made. one downside though is your connection will be slower because it is traveling farther. here's a good free anonymous proxy. it's abit difficult to set up though, but if you search you will find instructions. there's a forum too.
http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html

Thanks for the response to this thread. An unfortunately reality to surfing the web is that we tend to acquire a shit load of bullshit while we're out there and in this case some fucking twisted stuff, lord knows what some unwilling or unknowledgable people have sitting on their harddrives. Thanks for the programs, I'll provide a review of which works best soon.

Until then, maybe we could start a thread in the surfer section about "questionable" sites and content, or "warning". For example, I know Drum mentioned Sexocean, I site i used to like, yes you always had to have the firewall up to full strength for trojans but they had good content, until i definately saw something that made me never go back. Or does that eventually lead to a nice list of sites for people who are actually looking for illegal content? Or could we have problems with webmasters whose sites are "hotlisted" and hence mess up webmaster to Peachy relationships involving gallery trades or any of that shit I don't knwo about?

At the very least, if you use E*ule do not dl any files involving Skye Model, cause its not Summer.

Thanks again Mates, Oso

I have tried many of these prog before but the best one I have found was CyberScrub.
http://buy.cyberscrub.com/csutility/index.php?ReferrerId=293&run=Y
It can erase and scramble any file beyond Department of Defense standards.

-GEM

hey, guys i would love to know how you guys rate "HISTORYKILL" it says it "sreads files 21 times" is this military standered or not? i have used this one sinse 2000 but not sure of the "deepness" i would love to hear from exp. posters as gem37,inaz,fucktard and others with "computer savy" as their thoughts on historykill. P.S. if you try  hk2005 you will lose hk 2003or2002. this is the first "fu*k" iv'e came across in 3 plus yrs.

lancealot wrote:

hey, guys i would love to know how you guys rate "HISTORYKILL" it says it "sreads files 21 times" is this military standered or not? i have used this one sinse 2000 but not sure of the "deepness" i would love to hear from exp. posters as gem37, inaz ,fucktard and others with "computer savy" as their thoughts on historykill. P.S. if you try  hk2005 you will lose hk 2003or2002. this is the first "fu*k" iv'e came across in 3 plus yrs.

1. Thanks for placing your trust in my humble person ...
2. Talking about HK, if you have spent 40 bucks on it, keep it, but if not, you should consider another alternatives.

For me, the best alternative is to spend 99 bucks and install the TOP Of THE TOPS in Privacy Effectiveness: EVIDENCE ELIMINATOR, from Robin Hood Software, Ltd. which has been on the market since 1999 (when the 'privacy' was not an issue ...) and ranks #1 in most independently conducted reviews.


Regards..

OK, so how would you rate my rather primitive approach to keeping my computer clean?

I use a cheap second hand computer for any porn surfing.  OS is Windows XP, very simple set up, minimal software installed, specially designed for ease of surfing (eg. firefox and plugins).  Every 6 months or so, or anytime I think there's been a major breach,  I transfer desired files to an external drive and reformat the hard drive on my computer.  It means an afternoon of downtime as I reload Windows, update the system, and download firefox and other programs, but I've gotten pretty experienced with doing it and don't think it can get any cleaner.  Not a computer expert, but I figured reformatting would permanently erase any undesireable material such that even the FBI couldn't pull anything off the hard drive.  I've used this approach after being attacked by some nasty viruses with great results.  So have I got a good, although tedious, approach to the problem, or am I just fooling myself?

OS matters alot - I have a few computers at home with different OS running constantly 24h, each protected with the same hardware firewall. My own Windows 2003 x64 never had any issues (maybe the virus programmers don't do 64bit low level code?) but my gf's Windows XP Home has problems almost every single day.

Fellatio, it's important to backup before you get hit not after. if you do it after there's the chance you are just transferring the problem as you transfer your files.

i can promise eraser has been tested by many experts and it works. it uses random passes which makes it harder to recover the file. you can also use it to erase free space on your drive, meaning stuff you have deleted form your recycle bin.

 Formatting doesn't do anything, but move file partitions around - the data stays untouched. You must wipe the drive with a wiping utility (such as the much loved eraser) For the truly hardcore power user I'd build a batch file rather then use Evidence Eliminator (Which sucks ass by the way because it doesn't wipe your drive - it's kind of funny because people keep going to jail because they trusted EE and EE keeps bragging they can keep you out of jail) Windows Washer is a better product I think, but I don't trust their wiping utility.

As for d/l illegal porn that's happening alot these days because it's starting to become mainstream and our searching habits are getting better. If you see a site that starts with "http://lol.to" run away (haha, Sorry Cisco)

Didn't I pretty much cover almost every single thing in my post that has been said since? No offense but geez, do any of you actually read previous posts?

F~

fucing google

I had been using Tracks Eraser Pro (still am for some things) which had worked fairly well.   However, a malware problem on another computer led me to SuperGeeks which in turn led me to accept their suggestion for eliminating stuff from the computer, the freeware program CCleaner available at:
http://www.ccleaner.com/

OMG. Even after having run Tracks Eraser and some other eliminators, the freeware ccleaner found 170 megabytes of stuff, including lots of old playlists that I had long thought eliminated.  Try it, for free.     R.