So I'm considering making a job change, pronto....

There has been some major restructuring and changes in the company that I work for, they closed the location I was working from and have really seperated me from my customer base, I can't see an advantage in the situation I'm in now, a competitor has made me an offer that is attractive. I'm not 100% sure what to do and I really hate the uncertainty of it all but I think I just might take the offer and cut the ties. Onward and upward I guess.

What I am wondering though, I have a laptop provided by my former company that I have is probably about 18 months old now, I suspect it will have to be handed in at the time I give my notice.

Before hand I think I need to go through it and store any personal files etc on a thumb drive or something, but I would like to "wipe" any personal information from this machine before handing it back as to avoid my replacement from viewing any personal info.

Anybody ever been in this situation?? What is the best way to go about this??

 

If your company has a dedicated IT department, you could take it in to them and have them format and reinstall the operating system and all programs after you get your personal data off. If that isn't an option, after you copy your personal stuff and delete it, run Defrag. That will help by moving remaining programs into the empty space left by your personal data. You can also look here for shareware or freeware that can do the trick. Most of the wipe programs I have are for entire hard drives. You might try this one. It appears that it supports drag and drop to securely wipe that data from your hard drive. All that being said, If the person getting your laptop has never logged onto your computer before, after you delete your info and they log on, Windows (and I'm assuming that is the OS you are using) will create their Documents and settings directory and the whole host of files that goes along with it and most of what you deleted will be overwritten. Hope that helps.

 

There are also good programs at snapfiles.com for free to clear out history in your browser, clear out the hard drive etc. I have ran a few and they work pretty well.

Personal information is stored all over the place, more important for you might be your outlook information. Search for .pst, .ost files and determine if you need to keep them or not.

 

Just spend $90 and get a new hard drive for it and give it back with a blank drive. You can then take the removed drive and install it in an external case and plug it into your next computers USB port and you can take your time looking for and retrieving your old data.

 

do a format c:

however, they may be not too happy with you over this.

 

I'd second that.

Short of replacing the drive, a low-level format of the entire HD and restoring the computer to factory original format might be the next best option. Without wiping the entire drive clean, it would be hard to guarantee that there isn't something still out there.

 

If there isn't proprietary company data on the computer, you might also ask your company about buying your laptop at current market value.

 

Not a good idea, this is theft and he could be charged with a felony. As the IT manager of the company I work for if someone did this, the first call I would make would be to the owner, the second would be the cops and the third would be the attorney. Keep in mind, that the company owns that laptop lock, stock and barrel. From a legal standpoint, anything you have on that laptop belongs to them regardless of what it is, even if you paid for it and installed it. Be careful on what information you take, if it remotely has anything to do with the business, they can come after you for stealing proprietary information which is a felony in most states. Also keep in mind that if your IT department wants your info, they can get it. I have software that will let me go back 5+ format/reinstalls and retrieve information with an 85% success rate.

 

"Ooops, it fell in the water."

 

What we do is do a "backup" of the whole PC/laptop and the nstore it on a network drive so that when an employee gets clever and tries to "delete" their personal info they don't "accidentally" delete company property, etc. We offer to make a CD of their personal info and send to them or give it to them along with their last paycheck. I have never had anyone complain about that procedure. We have everything from assemblers to a staff of 23 engineers and nobody has balked yet. A few of our engineers have deleted code but we have fixed that little glitch now so it protects everyone involved. Like said above, everything on that computer belongs to the company and to delete, etc. it is not a good idea.

 

That means nothing other than a dead computer. You simply take the hard disk out of the drive and put it in another drive body and you're back in business. He'll just get charged for a new laptop and the recovery effort for the data. There goes any severance and/or last paycheck.

 

I've got a hard time believing a company will go through the effort of recovering the hard drive to put into another computer. Even so, unless it's an identical model a reformat is likely since drivers and things won't all be compatible.

Either way, he's covered. End results being the same: next person won't see his data.

Gotta be realistic though, do some of the simple stuff and you'll be fine. I can't see someone going out of their way with a new company laptop to track everything down about the previous user.

 

Ahhhhhh .... you look at **** on the company computer too, eh ??? HAHAHAHAHA ... I'm just kidding of course .

Your question was recently brought up at my company too ... noone had an answer there.

 

I hate to tell you this, but they will go to great lengths to make sure their information is protected and not compromised. My second week with my current company I was asked to fully recover a laptop/drive and any and all emails because an employee was giving away company secrets to a hired contractor she was sleeping with. Needless to say I got what they needed and she got 18 months in jail, and they both owe the company millions that were awarded in damages and she will have a fun time getting a job with a felony conviction following her every where she goes. He was forced to file bankruptcy, and the company is currently in litigation trying to force him to have to sell his assets to pay some of the money.

 

Oh, I can totally foresee a company doing that. I'm just saying going through all that work just to put a hard-drive into a new laptop for a different worker doesn't seem logical.

Proprietary rights + security of company information is a whole different ball game than what I was referring too My bad for the confusion...