This is scary...personal info. on used computer

[GetaGrrrip]

Went by the local thrift store on my way home today, and while I was there, I saw a computer. Just had to mess with it a bit.
Well, there were TurboTax records on there from the past 4 years or so, not to mention all of the personal info. in My Documents, too. There was a resumé, some other types of tax records, addresses, etc. I know there had to be social security numbers on there - more than likely in the TurboTax records. I let one of the staff there know, and they said that none of them knew anything about computers, and please do what I could. I told them they should pull it off of the shelf, but I did delete files at least, and emptied the recycle bin.
Not sure what else I could've done, but it was better than it was.

[igual]

had a similar thing happen here in the uk. a small second hand shop had an old pentium 3 which i was eyeing up to make a new smothie box with so i got it booted up in the shop and there was this whole blokes life on this pc everything from his account details including passwords ( what a muppet ) to addresses emails a load of work related stuff as well it looked like. i explained to the guy in the shop about this and he still had the origional owners contact number that he purchsed it from he took it off shop floor straight away. i left my number with him letting me know if he was going to resell it after he had it sortesd with origional owner i would put first bid on it.
i got a call form the owner 2 days later and a bottle of scotch was given to me in thanks by one very embarrased and lucky ex pentium owner.

if you chuck away a pc or give one away securly erase your hard drivers first its amazing the ammount of personal info we end up putting on comps, in the wrong hands that information can be deverstating.

[lgbpop]

Ditto.

I would have formatted the HDD to protect the previous owner, then gone to the manager and offered $5 for the computer because it wouldn't boot up.

[SuperSparks]

A salutory reminder for everyone

From our SypwareDr forum:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=186479

[bistro]

GetaGrrrip: Thanks for finding that for me....I was wondering what the wife did with that machine when she got mad at me for spending so much time on Tomb Raider: Laura Croft Goes Ballistic. Tell me, did you happen to be able to access the Passwords folder I put on there? If so, I would be grateful if you could post a copy of it here in this forum so I can copy it and...

Freakin' unbelievable the carelessness of some.

[GetaGrrrip]

Bistro, you're welcome! Found your password listed in My Documents | My Passwords, and it seems you used bistro & purpleshades for most everything. Does that help

Just spoke with our UPS (delivery) guy, and asked him what he did with his 2 year old computer that died. He told me he kept the monitor and keyboard, but threw the tower in the trash. I just told him about that computer with all of the personal stuff on it, and told him if his new computer dies, to please give it to me to dispose of next time. Nice guy, just totally clueless about computers.

[bistro]

I've found that, when it comes to disposing of a hard drive, a 5-pound sledge hammer-- liberally applied-- is a very effective means to insure that files can no longer be read.

[GetaGrrrip]

Yeah, but I don't want to tell him that yet - I thought maybe the HDD could've been mine if it was any good.

Any hard drive of mine will be disposed of properly. Sucks that they can't be donated, but it's just not worth the risk.