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Author Topic: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)  (Read 5865 times)

mateek

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IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« on: February 26, 2008, 08:23 PM »
I've just sold my second computer.  To feel secure, I overwrite all my files seven or eight times with a permanent deleter, and then I try to format the hard drive.  This time it's a PC, and I don't want to be bothered pulling the HDD, hooking it up to an external USB, and formatting, especially since this comp had very little on it.  It was just used as temp backup for some pictures while my external HDD is replaced, for media playlists, and a few CD's I'm legal to copy for myself only.  The last step for these sales I've made has been to put on a clean install of XP.

I could save time and possibly skip two big steps; the shredding step of the program files, and the clean install of XP on a computer that's clean enough (a showroom model maybe).  I need a small program to uninstall all the programs found in the Add/Remove dialog.  Sounds too paranoid maybe, but an once of prevention.  Maybe an option to leave a few like Adobe reader, OpenOffice, etc.

How about Unall, for prepping a computer for sale?

Has anybody come up with it yet?  Anybody heard of anything similar?
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mouser

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Re: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2008, 09:15 PM »
its an interesting idea just for fun but i think the smart thing would be to use a boot disk that you could boot up with and would wipe and erase the hard drive.

PhilB66

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Re: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2008, 09:30 PM »
That's what I'd do.

1. TeraByte's CopyWipe - Free Drive Copy and Wiping Software (haven't tried this one).

2. Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)

mateek

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Re: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2008, 09:44 PM »
I've used Knoppix's QTParted, and CutePartitionMagic(is this the right name?  I know the flopply needs cpm.exe to work), but they both seem to leave shadows on the hard drives I found with recovery tools.  My uneducated theory is you need a MS OS to confidently format a Windows system hard drive.  I know the fresh install will format again, but I'm thinking of an extra layer or two of protection.

Anybody know something about this subject (although I know this isn't really the place)?
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jgpaiva

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Re: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2008, 10:01 AM »
Definitelly go for Phill's recomendation, DBAN seems to be the best option.

scancode

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Re: IDEA: Uninstall All Programs (Unall)
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2008, 10:18 AM »
[snip] and CutePartitionMagic(is this the right name?  I know the flopply needs cpm.exe to work)[/snip]
http://www.cutepm.com/ -- Cute Partition Manager