KillDisk - wipe a computer

Introduction
If you have an old computer that you'd like to sell on, you should be careful about wiping it clean before it leaves your hands. If you just delete files, they aren't really deleted completely, it is possible to recover them if you have the right tools (Kernel is good for this).

To delete files completely special software is needed to write over the places on the hard disk where the files are to ensure the data cannot be recovered. This process has many levels of security. If you want the highest security you'll have to purchase a program. However, for most of us a good level of erasing files on our hard disks is enough.


KillDisk
I've found KillDisk to be easy to use and effective.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

I downloaded the Linux Console version. It's very small, it's possible to write it to a small USB flash drive. In my case I had an old 256 MB flash drive that I used. Download the zip, open it and run the ISOtoUSB.exe. Be careful to point it at your USB flash drive!!! It'll write to the drive in seconds.

Insert your USB flash drive into the target computer (the one you want to wipe) and boot the computer. You may have to press a key, maybe F10 or F12 to boot from the USB flash drive. Once it boots up you'll be presented with a blue text screen. There are menus and you can use a mouse. It's relatively easy to use.

You can select any disk on the computer. Be careful which one you select! Use the arrow keys and press Space to select an option.

With the free version you can select a security level where it writes zeros over the data on the disk. This is not 100% security but it's pretty good for home use. If you have some real secrets to hide you could always upgrade to the Pro version!

Before it will start you must type some words - this is to ensure you really want to wipe the computer! Think before you do this! There is no undo after using KillDisk!

Once you start it, it'll take some time to wipe the data. Here's a photo I took of me wiping my PC:

Conclusion

It is quick and easy to use. I like the simplicity. I used this before in the past with the DOS version years ago. This version is just as good. I especially like how small it is.

Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Please try the following suggestions

Someone sent me a Word document today, I tried to open it and the following message appeared:
Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Please try the following suggestions

Reason

Word has blocked a file it thinks might be dangerous. In my case it was a macro enabled document (.docm) but it can also be any Word document, possibly sent as an attachment on a 'suspicious' e-mail.

What you must do is ask yourself a serious question:
Is the file from a trusted source? 

• If yes, then proceed. 
• Otherwise ask yourself whether you really want to open this potentially dangerous file.

Solution
Thanks to Microsoft's knowledgebase I found the solution and the following worked for me. Here's the short version but of course the full knowledgebase article explains more (I've referenced it below).

WARNING: Only follow these steps if you received the file from a trusted source.

In explorer find the document you wish to open, right click on it, click Properties:

Click Unblock, Apply, OK

Now in Word try File | Open, select the document and it should open normally.

For a full explanation please see the following Microsoft Knowledgebase article:

http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2749199

Version

I'm using Word 2013 but from the article (above link) Word 2010 and 2007 work the same way. 

Conclusion

I know I'm only copying what Microsoft's article already says but I thought I'd post this shorter version as it probably works for most people. The Microsoft article goes into more depth about using the Trust Centre so it's well worth a read if you have a more serious issue. The reason for this seems to be that I received a macro enabled doc (.docm) and Word blocked it to protect me. It's just a click to unblock so once you know this it is pretty easy to 'solve'. Feel free to write your experiences in the comments below.

References

http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2749199

Crunchbang Linux - change password

To change your password in Crunchbang there are two things you must do:


01 - Change the password
Right click on the desktop
Click Terminal

At the $ prompt type:
sudo passwd <username> [Enter]

You should replace <username> with your Crunchbang username.

Take note that the command "passwd" is not "password" ;-)


02 - Delete the Keyring
You will also need to delete the keyring file otherwise when you restart the computer it will ask "Enter password to unlock your login keyring":

At the $ prompt type:
rm ~/.gnome2/keyrings/login.keyring [Enter]

Close the Terminal window
Right click on the desktop
Click Exit
Click Reboot

When you restart the computer, login as usual.

You may also see the following:

If you see the above enter your WiFi password and click Connect

Your WiFi password will now be saved and the next time you restart your computer you will not need to enter it again.

Reset your Windows password

Introduction
Are you suffering from amnesia? Or maybe someone you know? They can't remember their Windows password and therefore cannot access their computer. What to do? You could reinstall Windows but I'm sure you'd prefer a less painful alternative.

There are several free solutions, search for "Windows Password Reset" or similar and you'll find many.  Most are Linux boot disks with utilities specifically for resetting a Windows password. The first I tried was PC Login Now. It was easy to use but unfortunately it didn't work on the Windows XP computer I was using for my test. I tried several of its options including 'Empty password' but it did nothing.

The next I tried worked very well, it's called: 'Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor, Bootdisk / CD' and this worked very well.

Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor

It is very small, just a 4MB download. According to the blurb it supports Windows NT, 2000, XP,Vista, 7 and server editions. There's no mention of Windows 8 yet.

It has a text based interface. This might turn some of you off and it might turn a few of you on! Personally I like this text based approach because it doesn't require anything fancy (graphics drivers) to run it and it's fast to start up. I decided to download it and try it on a Windows XP computer.



Download
Browse to: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

There is an ISO version to burn to a CD or you install it to a USB flash drive - this is an easy option as the software required to do this is included in the download zip file.

Download 'Files for USB install', at the time of writing this (March 2013) there was a file called usb110511.zip


Install to a USB Flash Drive
Of course there are instructions on the Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor website:
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
...but in any case I've written the steps I took here:

You'll need a USB flash drive, any capacity will work, even an old 512MB one for example.

Plug in the USB flash drive.

Make a note of what drive letter the USB flash drive has, perhaps, E:, F:, G:, etc.

In Windows Explorer check that you can access and use the USB flash drive. If there are any files on it you want to keep, copy them somewhere else.

Format the USB flash drive (FAT16 is fine). You can format the USB flash drive by right clicking on it and selecting Format.

Extract the files from the usbXXXXXX.zip file to the USB flash drive.

Open a command window (CMD) - in Windows XP click Start | Run, type CMD [Enter], in Windows 7 click Start and type CMD [Enter] in the search box.

At the C:\> prompt type X: [Enter]
(where X: is the drive letter of your USB flash drive)

Type   SYSLINUX -ma X:  [Enter]

The above command is important, it writes the Linux boot sector to the USB flash drive. Once you've done that, the USB flash drive is ready to be used.


Reset a Windows Password
Take the USB flash drive and plug it into the computer with the Windows password you want to reset.

Restart the computer

On the startup screen you must boot from the USB flash drive. Different computers have different ways of doing this, for example, press F12 if it is a Lenovo computer.

There is a series of on screen menus. You should stop and read each one carefully but in most cases the default option (press Enter) is fine.

I was going to detail the steps I took but there's no need, there is a very good 'walkthrough' already here:
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/walkthrough.html


Conclusion
'Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor' worked well for me. It was fast to download, install to a USB flash drive and to actually reset the password. It isn't pretty though, the black and white text interface with old fashioned text menus might put some off. Above everything the fact is that this utility works. It should be a part of every IT professional's toolkit.