[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] recycling computers

[Ted Kochanski]

All,

It all depends on what is the sensitivity of the stuff on the disk -- if it
is National Security stuff -- then crushing or grinding, melting, etc is
what you to make sure nothing can be recovered
I we are talking bank accounts, and such that is far too too much effort
for the reduction of risk -- there are commercial programs which do a
fairly good job

for example the now Infamous Bleachbit
from the wikipedia article
BleachBit is a free and open-source disk space cleaner, privacy manager,
and computer system optimizer. The BleachBit source code is licensed under
the GNU General Public License version 3.

History
BleachBit was first publicly released on 24 December 2008 for Linux
systems.[3] The 0.2.1 release created some controversy[4] by suggesting
Linux needed a registry cleaner.

Version 0.4.0 introduced CleanerML,[5] a standards-based markup language
for writing new cleaners.
On May 29, 2009, BleachBit version 0.5.0 added support for Windows XP,
Windows Vista, and Windows 7.[6]
On September 16, 2009, version 0.6.4 introduced command-line interface
support.[7]

BleachBit is available for download through its website and the
repositories of many Linux distributions.

www.bleachbit.org
Features

Identifying and removing Web cache, HTTP cookies, URL history, temporary
files log files and Flash cookies for Firefox, Opera, Safari, APT, Google
Chrome
Removing unused localizations (also called locale files) which are
translations of software
Shredding files and wiping unallocated disk space to minimize data remanence
Wiping unallocated disk space to improve data compression ratio for disk
image backups
Vacuuming Firefox's SQLite database which suffers fragmentation
Command line interface for scripting automation and headless operation


Written in Python
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)>
Operating system <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system> Microsoft
Windows <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows>
macOS <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS>
Linux <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux>
Size <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_size> 11.5-12.2 MB
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabyte> (Windows)
Available in 64 languages[2]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BleachBit#cite_note-2>
Type
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_categories#Categorization_approaches>
Disk
cleaner <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_cleaner>
License <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license> GNU General Public
License <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License>
Website www.bleachbit.org

Ted



On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 12:30 PM Edward Lipman <edward.lipman at gmail.com>
wrote:

> For $39 I'd use my own hammer!
>
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 9:51 AM <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> FYI
>>
>>
>>
>> A friend has two OLD laptops.  One with Windows XP, the other Windows 7.
>> I called both Staples and Best Buy both of which will take them (and a lot
>> of other stuff) at no cost.  However it does not include wiping the disk.
>> Staples offers that service @$29 each, and Best Buy @39 each.  Neither
>> could explain to me what a full erase means (for all I know they may open
>> the case and use a hammer).
>>
>>
>>
>> John Rudy
>>
>>
>>
>> 781-861-0402
>>
>> 781-718-8334  cell
>>
>> 13 Hawthorne Lane
>>
>> Bedford MA
>>
>> jjrudy1 at comcast.net
>>
>>
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