Erase Your Computer...

HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Completly wipe without reformatting?</div> Is it possible to completly wipe your computer while pin pointing things not to uninstall/remove? I wanna get rid of all this crap inside my computer, all these installers, clean everything out, and not have to reformat.

PS:: Whats the command to defrag...?
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  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    Alright, I just went through and uinstalled everything that I dont want. Is all I have to do is defrag now? That will get rid of those nasty little folders that still take up space on your harddrive....right?
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    I recommend using <a href='http://consumer.execsoft.com/diskeeper/diskeeper.asp?RId=50' target='_blank'>Diskeeper</a> to defrag. You can get a trial version on that site, it works for 30 days.
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  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    Thanks, trying that now.
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  • MonsieurEvilMonsieurEvil Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    What operating system is it? All but Windows NT 4 have a defragger already included, after all...
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  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    I'm on XP home edition. And just a heads up guys: I dont know *anything* about computers. So if you pull out a word like "Megabyte" on me, I'm gonna be all ....WTH.....

    <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    Ok, I'm defragementing with that Diskeeper trial. 15% done so far, wish me luck... <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    edited February 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-MonsieurEvil+Feb 7 2004, 02:06 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MonsieurEvil @ Feb 7 2004, 02:06 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> What operating system is it? All but Windows NT 4 have a defragger already included, after all... <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Diskeeper 8 is much faster than the defrag tool already included with most flavours of Windows.

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Ok, I'm defragementing with that Diskeeper trial. 15% done so far, wish me luck...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You don't need luck. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> Also, that percent complete bar doesn't like to update very often. If you're on a slower system, just leave it for an hour or so. If you're on a faster system, it should take about 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the drive and fragmentation level. Also, you may need to do it over again a few times if it doesn't get all the fragments in one shot.
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  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    Start Menu --> Programs --> Accesories --> System Tools

    there is the defrag

    as for what Defrag does:

    defrag simply organises how the data on your disk is stored.

    It will not actualy change what data exists, just make it so you can get at it faster.


    the only way to get rid of all those random folders is:
    Step 1) Reformat
    Step 2) Learn how to do file management (this is realy a nontrivial skill, it will help you out ALOT, and is honestly not that harD)
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  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    Oh, and don't use your computer while you're defragging. Well, don't use anything that's going to write to or read from yor hard disk (which doesn't leave much). Defragging means reorganising how the data's stored, so if other programs keep writing to it it's going to mess the defrag up <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    Diskeeper defrags things just fine, even if you're using your computer.
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  • SycophantSycophant Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7092Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Ha.ze+Feb 7 2004, 04:24 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ha.ze @ Feb 7 2004, 04:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Is it possible to completly wipe your computer while pin pointing things not to uninstall/remove? I wanna get rid of all this crap inside my computer, all these installers, clean everything out, and not have to reformat. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    If you're looking to make those digital innards squeaky-clean, I'd also suggest running a spyware remover and a registry cleaner. The registry is usually worse, as it tends to get bloated with dead data over time.
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  • HazeHaze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Sycophant+Feb 7 2004, 09:22 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sycophant @ Feb 7 2004, 09:22 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Ha.ze+Feb 7 2004, 04:24 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ha.ze @ Feb 7 2004, 04:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Is it possible to completly wipe your computer while pin pointing things not to uninstall/remove?  I wanna get rid of all this crap inside my computer, all these installers, clean everything out, and not have to reformat. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    If you're looking to make those digital innards squeaky-clean, I'd also suggest running a spyware remover and a registry cleaner. The registry is usually worse, as it tends to get bloated with dead data over time. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Where can I get programs like these?
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    You can get a trial version of RegSupreme <a href='http://www.macecraft.com/' target='_blank'>here</a>. It's a good program, and it's by the same guy who made RegCleaner, which was recommended in MonsE's tweaking guide.
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  • RobRob Unknown Enemy Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 25Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited February 2004
    The main reason you want to reformat is to clean out your unneeded registry keys. Those buggers are run every time windows boots and every program and its brother spams them like mad, not taking the time to clean up when you uninstall.

    The bad thing is, using the default program (regedit) to clean up is a bit of a task, but I think there are more intuitive registry editing programs out there...

    Anyway, as these guys have said, defragging puts chuncks of data from the same programs in nice straight lines, so the read/write head doesn't need to skip over uselss data when it's loading something. This cuts down on read time, and in so doing speeds up your computer.

    You'll prolly want to defrag (especially if you dload/install alot of stuff) once a month or so, and they recommend a reformat every 6 months, but that's up to you.
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    You should defrag every week. Every month is too seldom. I suggest buying Diskeeper and setting "Smart Schedule".
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  • RobRob Unknown Enemy Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 25Members, NS1 Playtester
    I don't see how that works. You only need to defrag after you've added/subtracted something from you HD. Unless you're doing doing alot of digtal video editing, I don't see you moving gigs around every day...
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  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    you defrag when you need to

    If your disk gewts heavily fragged, clean it. If it isn't, it honestly dosn't matter.
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-rob6264+Feb 8 2004, 03:15 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (rob6264 @ Feb 8 2004, 03:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I don't see how that works. You only need to defrag after you've added/subtracted something from you HD. Unless you're doing doing alot of digtal video editing, I don't see you moving gigs around every day... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Pretty much everything you do adds and subtracts from the HDD. Surfing the internet? You're downloading the HTML and the images. Talking to people with logs on? You're adding. Playing a game sometimes fragments the drive, too.
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  • RobRob Unknown Enemy Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 25Members, NS1 Playtester
    Bah, come on, now. I qualified my statement. In order for defrag to do anything useful, it can't be more than a randomly accessed 2KB file you're using :-P.

    What really helps is when you've got a big arsed game file (say a .pak from HL) that spans hundreds of megs, that usually doesn't fit on one sector :-). Part of it could be right after the OS, then some more after something else, and other little chunks stuck all around the platters in an incoherant mess.

    Images, hypertext files, and <i>most</i> savegames will fit neatly if you defrag at least once a month. Once a week is overkill, but it doesn't hurt anything.

    This would be a good time to go into a discussion of the law of dimishing returns, but I don't think I will...
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  • AeaAea Join Date: 2003-10-09 Member: 21552Members
    I defrag (SpeedDisk) once a week, and yes I do move lots of stuff around <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
    I run liveupdate (Virus Def.) once a day @ 1 AM
    I run a Virus Scan once a day @ 1:30 AM
    I run windoctor once a month
    I run diskcheck once every 2 weeks
    I run CleanSweep once a week

    I forgot to run all of that last month, and it's a mess right now that I'm trying to clean up <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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