• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Your Internet files have not been deleted permanently

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
One of the few times that I read email advertising..... Your thoughts about this e mail......

User Notice: Your Internet files have not been deleted permanently....

READ THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION regarding the websites you visit, your chat conversations, and all of your Internet and other PC files:

Don't lose your job, get divorced, become embarrassed, or be sent to prison because of what you do on your home or office computer!

Are you aware that your computer is also a recording device? Almost every action you make is recorded and can be easily retrieved by anyone, not just by a computer geek but by an average computer user such as your spouse, boss, friend, or anyone who has access to the PC you use.

Press here to learn more


For example, web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox can save every image and every website you open. Windows might save every login name and password you type. Media players often keep records of every movie and video clip you watch.

Without Evidence Nuker your computer is as private as a diary left on a restaurant table for anyone to read, and thousands of people have been fired, divorced and even sent to prison over what was found on their PC! Do you want your loved ones, employers, or law enforcement agencies to know everything you do Online?

For no cost at all you can download Evidence Nuker today and run a FREE scan that will show you a listing of deleted files, emails, chat transcripts, audio and video files, temporary internet files, image files (all formats), search histories, clipboard data, passwords, internet history, stored cookies and so much more! After you see everything that has been easily recovered you can use Evidence Nuker to permanently delete everything you want erased!

Press Here to Scan your PC For No Cost


Or visit our home page below for more information


Do you know the "Recycle Bin" does not destroy data?

There are tools that can retrieve deleted files even if a new file has been written where the old one used to be. Not even formatting your hard drive is a guarantee of privacy! You should never give away an old computer before permanently deleting all of the personal information you have left on it.

Evidence Nuker gives you a choice of several deletion methods including the one approved by the Department of Defense (DOD 5220.22-M standard) and the one scientifically proven to be sufficient (Guttman).

Press Here to Scan your PC For No Cost


Or visit our home page below for more information
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
One of the methods used to extract the information that is recorded on you computer (yes, that fact cannot be denied) is to send spam emails to people, and in those emails ask them to "Press here" for more info/scan your computer/protect yourself now.

Once you click on the link, your system is indeed scaned....and the very information you are being warned about is then extracted and downloaded from your system! :argueing:

Delete the email, and any others you see like it. Your first choice was your best Junk.

Dave
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
Are there legitimate programs that you would advise for a person to use, or is it unnecessary??
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
Junkman said:
Are there legitimate programs that you would advise for a person to use, or is it unnecessary??

Well, I can only speak from personal experience, but in all the years I have been using computers in general and the internet specifically, I have never had any problems with viruses (virii?) or stolen information. I have never run an antivirus program for any longer than it takes me to uninstall it from a new computer (I actually detest them with a passion, they always seem to cause more problems than they fix :mad:). I have switched to non-microsoft browser (Firefox) and email (Thunderbird) so I am immune to the normal spread of crap through those conduits (need to keep an eye on this though, they are starting to find more vulnerabilities in these alternative programs). I DO NOT open attachements in my emails from people I do not know, and those I do know I check very carefully before opening. Basic things like switching windows to not hide the file extention will allow you to spot executable files more easily (a common method to hide an executable is to name it something like "funny_joke.txt.exe" and if you hide extensions, you only see "funny_joke.txt" and can be duped into running it. Don't fall for Phishing sacms "Dear eBay user, your account is about to be disconnected unless you click here". If it is important (like a real credit card issue), they will contact you by USPS, not email.

The only thing I have been unable to avoid is that goddamn adware shit. I run Spybot and Ad-Aware every few days to keep that clean.

Basically, it comes down to what you learned as a kid, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

There is also the ultimate defense which I run on my home computers....switch to Linux! :eek:

However, I will be the first to say that Linux is not even close to ready for mass consumption, if ever. Maybe Max OS X?

Dave
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Good advice Dave. I concur. Do not click on links in unsolicited emails, EVER!

Parts of the email you got are accurate. Lots of data is stored on your computer which tracks where you've visited, when, downloaded, etc. Everything you do is tracked. IE gives you ways to clean up part of your tracks. Heck, even your Favorites can tell where you've been. In XP it tracks when you use a program and how often. I guess I'm not smart enough to understand why that should bother me. I believe TuCows software download site has some programs which their main function is to clean up your tracks. I've been afraid of spyware that can to often come with these type of programs. In this case I think the cure can be worse than the illness.
 

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Junkman said:
Are there legitimate programs that you would advise for a person to use, or is it unnecessary??

Mozilla or Firefox in place of IE is the most important upgrade you can make.

IE includes all sorts of built in hooks to let your tech support person, and every scammer in the world, take over your PC. The other browsers don't have the hooks, are hardenened against takeover, and also fewer virus writers target them.

ZoneAlarm is important because it will halt and ask your approval when anything tries to phone home.

And before downloading any freeware, Google to see if it is suspected of carrying a trojan and download only from the author's site.

Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D are considered excellent. I run them a couple of times a year but have never found anything more serious than tracking cookies that I overlooked cleaning out.

Edit: You can't really clean up a MS operating system, it stores stuff everywhere. Long ago I was a government auditor and the accepted wisdom was if you want to clean a hard drive before disposal, some blows with a pickaxe is the only thing that will make it truly unreadable.

After retiring I bought many used trade-in drives at auction for resale on Ebay and found easily-accesable data on many of them, even those from government agencies where they should have known better. (Yes I formatted them before resale!)
 
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Viking

New member
Site Supporter
If you want to make sure all your inyernet activities are removed try East-Tec Eraser software. You can erase so that software recovery methods will not recover anything on your hard drive all the way up to Dept. Of Defense hardware methods of recovery will not work to recover anything on your hard drive.

http://www.east-tec.com/eraser/index.htm?45p
 

slowzuki

New member
What the email says is true, but I wouldn't use their software. It is just as likely to contain spyware.

I recently move to Mac OS-X for other reasons, I happened to need a new machine. Now I'm here I'm happy to enjoy the reduced spyware etc threat.

Re erasing drives, I'm told info can be recovered even after a drive has been erased then rewritten over top. I don't understand how this is possible unless there is a bit of offset in the writing each time. I suspect a delete and rewrite over top such as a mac's secure delete would do most of the job. If you need more a really strong media demagnetizer should wipe it dead. Or the pick-ax!
 
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