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Question

Formatting a pc

Aug 27, 2015 5:40AM PDT

At my work place we normally move assets around i.e. when a user leaves the organisation we give their pc or laptop to another user without deleting or formatting it. Now because of security reasons I would like to know which is best practise between deleting the previous user's profile and formatting the machine? Can someone give pros and cons of both?
Thank you very much

Discussion is locked

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Answer
You'll have to define in detail what formmating is.
Aug 27, 2015 6:35AM PDT

If I format a floppy, it wrote to the entire surface so data recovery is nearly impossible. A quick format of a HDD leaves almost all the data on the HDD for retrieval later.

And then you have folk new to PCs that call formatting a pc the process of installing the OS or factory recovery which is not formatting at all.

If you want o leak information, deleting the user's profile is the most leaky path.

Post was last edited on September 2, 2015 5:09 AM PDT

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You'll have to define in detail what formmating it.
Aug 27, 2015 10:55PM PDT

Thank you for your response, by formatting I meant formatting the HDD.

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Re: formatting
Aug 28, 2015 12:26AM PDT

Your answer makes me think that you fall in the category Bob described as "folk new to PC's". In that case, why not suggest your boss to hire a professional, if he cares about security?

You don't format a disk, you format a partition on a disk.
And, since formatting a partition deletes everything on it (except for common tools for unformatting and undeleting), it doesn't make any sense to delete something (the previous users profile) from that partition before formatting, because formatting would have deleted it anyway.

Asking for the best practice between doing A and B is meaningless if doing A followed by B is a bad practice in itself.

The best practice in such a case is restore the current image of the companies standard PC (assuming the company has an Enterprise License for Windows, so every PC has the same license code).

Kees

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You'll have to define in detail what formmating it.
Aug 28, 2015 6:40AM PDT

Hi Kees

Thank you for your response, but some of your comments were really not necessary as they do not answer nor address the question at hand.

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That's why we need to be detailed.
Aug 28, 2015 7:16AM PDT

Formatting a drive letter, using the defaults leaves most data ready for recovery.

I think this is why many companies destroy the drives and send the PCs to salvage.

If you want to learn about security and such, it takes time and accepting that getting the details right matters.

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Answer
In that situation
Sep 2, 2015 3:48AM PDT

deleting the profile along with all the files and folders for it should be sufficient.

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In that situation
Sep 3, 2015 12:10AM PDT

Thank you James and thank you all for your responses.

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Re: deleting profile
Sep 3, 2015 12:29AM PDT

That deletes the data in the profile indeed. But it's easily recoverable, as Bob said.

And it doesn't delete anything that is stored outside the profile (on my office laptop are 13 folders in the C:-drive I created myself), nor uninstalls any programs the previous user installed and even leaves all malware present and active, nor doesn't it take care of (security) updates the previous user didn't apply.

I really wouldn't call that a "best practice" to give a PC to a new employee.

Kees

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Answer
but is it necessary
Sep 3, 2015 12:45AM PDT

IMO, there is no best practice. It really depends on the security reasons. Most of the time when a user leaves, their replacement will inherit the computers so deleting the profile and personal files is all that is really needed. They may need the other files in the performance of their job.

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Today it is very necessary.
Sep 3, 2015 10:11AM PDT

Let's say it's the former HR or CFO's PC. The deletion of the profile is not good enough as the next user may not be trustworthy to not undelete content and may uncover the entire company's payroll or pay and the CFO's emails about why they left or were ejected from the company.

But hey, why be secure today?