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Thread: Someone is Spying on me i need to do low-level format plz help

  1. #1
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    Someone is Spying on me i need to do low-level format plz help

    Edited by Scorpion999 since situation is now solved
    thanks for any help

    Yes, it is solved, and you are banned.

    Do not come onto this forum, get lots of advice, and think that you can then delete the posts.

    Edited by nihil
    Last edited by nihil; September 23rd, 2007 at 12:13 PM.

  2. #2
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    Um just relax dude...

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hola! Scorpion999, and welcome to AO.

    You seem to have three questions:

    1. How to deal with telemarketing spam?
    2. How to securely and totally erase a hard drive?
    3. How to securely erase a file and/or folder?

    Firstly, let me say that I do not think that you are being "spied on" in the true sense of "spy".

    Secondly, you cannot "low level format" a modern hard drive. That can only be done at the factory when it is made.

    I will deal with the telephone issue first:

    1. You are currently on a telemarketing list or lists. This has nothing to do with the current state of your computer equipment, and this information could have been obtained from a number of places other than your computers.

    I do not know the laws and telephone services in your country, but in the UK there is a system where you submit your number to an organisation that holds lists of people who do not accept unsolicited marketing calls. It is illegal to make an unsolicited telemarketing call to such a number. It is the duty of the telemarketer to check this, and even if they are in a foreign country, the people who hire them to sell whatever it is will be in your country where the law can get to them.

    [A] You might ask your telephone company about this blocking in your country?

    [B] The simplest solution is to ask your telephone company to give you a new number and that it be unlisted (ex-directory).

    or they do like mass-spammers do make fake numbers comes up , in other words the number i recive the call from has nothing to do with the calls.
    Yes, I believe that is what is happening. Obviously, if they falsify the number you cannot block them, unless they use the same false number again.

    They must be listening to the phone because once i tried to call a local-phone book company to see if my phonenumber was in it
    i didnt reach them (Closed for the day) but 1 Hour later I was shocked
    to find the same Local-phoone book in my postbox (this company dont operate in my city so i never get this phone book here i was shocked)
    That is amazing!.................. it is very, very, efficient!

    You call enquiries and it is closed. The automated system looks up your number and finds your address. It sends a message to a local distribution centre. A man on a motorcycle delivers the directory.

    I am very impressed with that service!

    Once i got call from someone wanthing to invite me to a Carpet show when asking where he got my number from he said from 5 Friends
    That is a very common tactic. Name 5 friends who might be interested and you get a discount, or a free camera or something. If you are in the telephone book, you might not even know who did it

    I will post again about your other two questions
    Last edited by nihil; September 20th, 2007 at 12:05 PM.

  4. #4
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hola! Scorpion999,

    To return to your other questions:

    Darik's Boot & Nuke (Dban) is a very good wiping tool. I would recommend it for total disk wipes.

    Personally I use "Disk Wipe" by "roadkil" (it is free )

    http://www.roadkil.net/downloads.html

    Also get "Undelete" and "Unstoppable Copier" whilst you are there. Undelete will let you check deletion success, and Unstoppable Copier is very good for data recovery from defective hard drives.

    As an ongoing tool, I use "Eraser" by Sami Tolvanen. It gives you a right click menu option for erasing individual files, groups of files and folders. It also wipes whole drives/partitions and allows the wiping of "free space" as an ongoing maintenance exercise.

    You can get it here:

    http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

    It now supports Vista, so I guess it is my top recommendation for a multifunction wiping tool.

    It is free under the GNU Public Licence

    As a general word of advice, three passes should be adequate for security purposes.

    When I am just making sure that a hard drive is "clean" for a new installation, I only use one pass.

    Please be sure to back up whatever it is you have on that 20Gb drive....... it is getting rather old.


  5. #5
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    Edited by Scorpion999 since situation is now solved
    thanks for any help
    Last edited by Scorpion999; September 23rd, 2007 at 07:37 AM.

  6. #6
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    If i use Dban is it best to use the Gutmann technique (37 passes) or is the DOD 5220.22-M method (7 pases) good enough?

    I heard Gutmann sometimes can fail saying not enough memory whys that
    will i have some problems on my 1024MB memory notebook?

    should i maybe try DOD 5220 first and then Gutmann ?
    or just jump right to gutmann?

    I know Gutmann probaly is way to extreme (unless we talk about F/-Bi or such) but it would make me feel terrible secure.

    As i understand it most people Recomend Dban now
    so i guess is better than Killdisk?

    anyway instruction how to easy use Dban
    Last edited by Scorpion999; September 20th, 2007 at 08:20 PM.

  7. #7
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hola! Scorpion999, como esta usted?

    I would just get "Eraser" and run it over freespace, then defragment your drive. Pretty standard housekeeping as I see things?............ not "I have something to hide....wipe the lot"............... sometimes the tools cause the questions?

    My advice is to get the "Eraser" software and erase the freespace. Then defragment and forget about it. You do not have the films, so there is no evidence.

    Any that there is; exists in your ISP log files

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by nihil
    Hola! Scorpion999, como esta usted?
    Any that there is; exists in your ISP log files
    Why do you talk in spanish
    About the ISP log probaly but we talking about p2p softwares

    As for eraser i am more thinking if i should use Dban

  9. #9
    Senior Member isildur's Avatar
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    How do you Nihil isn't in with the one's spying on you? ;-)
    Only trust Pipe-smoking Penguins.

  10. #10
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    how about you change your phone number if your that concerned about it. Problem solved. I mean if 'they' dont even have your address (you seem to think thats the point of the offers), then chances are they won't be able to find a new phone number.

    Why didn't they just tell you that you've won some contest and needed your addy to ship some free stuff to you, that would probably be an easier pitch then selling stuff...

    all seems fishy to me, but better safe then sorry in these days, change your number.
    Ron Paul: Hope for America
    http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

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