Can someone trace everything on your computer?

Question

from your computer? Like let's say on the first day I got my computer I went to...idk myspace or something can someone trace that two years later? Is there anyway to delete the stuff in your harddrive [and don't say 'delete your history' because that's retarded]

oh and this is just a random question because my friend told me they can trace everything but idk if she was trying to freak me out or something

Answer 1

Well, I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but its possible that some douche could put a keylogger on your computer and then have the logs sent to thier email. In that case, if they kept the log files for 2 years, then yes... someone would know you were there.

I believe your ISP knows which websites you go to as well. If the CIA wants your computer and want to know which websites you were going to, they can contact your ISP and they can track your IP.

If you want to get rid of everything off your hard drive, format you drive and reinstall windows... or linux or w/e you are using.

I'm not sure if myspace would keep your ip records up to two years or not.  

Answer 2

Well, you can see history, by default internet explorer saves up 20 dayes of information on visited sites, to remove that just go to settings and youll fint it

Answer 3

you can delete evrything so its all gone but if the police evr needed to look at you computer they can find everything that was on it, wether you carefully got rid of it or not. thats why peadophiles think theyre safe and happily hand there computer to the police, thinking they wont find anything because theyve carefully deleted everything. then they get arrested.  

Answer 4

Not to be funny but deleting the history of the web sites you visited is one way to remove information, but that's only the addresses of the web sites you have visted.

As for removing files from your hard drive, you need to know what you are doing if you plan on deleting things.  

Things like .JPG files, or any movie files are easy enough to delete.  Once you delete the files, they're gone, although there is software out there that can (in effect) rebuild deleted files but only within a certain timeframe.

When it comes to deleting program files, that's where you need to know what you're doing.  For that, it's best to either use the  'uninstall' program that much of the software comes with, or use the Add/Remove function from Control Panel.  Those typically remove almsot everything  - if not all.  Some leave empty folders behind, others remove the folders & icons as well as all of the program files.

If you're concerned about whether or not someone can still trace what was on you're hard drive, there is a utility out there that will "wipe" the free space of your hard drive...kind of like a hard drive cleaner.  If you use it, make sure you follow the instructions.

Good luck...

Answer 5

Deleted files can still be recovered from the hard drive. In order to permanently wipe out everything, you would have to re-format the hard drive. (Reload the OS)

Answer 6

Every night I search for cookies and then delete them

Then I run Ad aware full scan that takes out any "bits" left behind.

I finally open my computer and go to properties on my drives and do a clean out from there as well.

lol deleting your history is not r****d its smart like removing your foot prints to where ever you have been on line.

I run Avast each week for any sneaky virus,s and they go into the chest box ready to be deleted

Answer 7

in all technicality the government could because of the grave robber programs they have that arent released to the public. any one else couldnt.

Answer 8

This is the kind of question that screams "I have something on my computer I don't want anybody to see.  How do I get rid of it?"

You need a secure erasing program such as: http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

But the best way is the physical destruction of the platters in the hard drive.  Remove them from the case and grind them into small pieces.

Otherwise the answer is yes.

Answer 9

Yes, with the proper equipment, software and time, anything can be retrieved form your computer.  To avoid anything embarrassing being found, you can do two things:

1) Never ever go online and do what you want.

2) If you plan on getting rid of the computer, use a hard drive wiping tool, such as Darik's Boot and Nuke (note, this software will erase absolutely EVERYTHING!, including Windows), then reformat the hard drive using Linux (more than one version is better, then wiping again and Reinstalling Windows.  Oh yes, if the RIAA or MPAA ever comes knocking and saw you did this, you WILL lose the case.

Answer 10

erick is right, when you delete somethning off your computer through recycling bin, it doenst actually delete it. it just shows the space the file had occupied as free space, and makes the deleted file inaccessable. the "deleted" file sits there (recoverable) until some other file is saved on top of it, and if your hard drive has alot of free space, itll take a long time. you dont have to wipe the whole drive though. there are free softwares on the internet that can wipe individual files, as well as recovering individual deleted files.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/eraser.html

http://www.recuva.com/

let me guess, you downloaded something illigal, maybe an mp3 or movie, or more likely, p**n. and you dont want others to find out?

if someone is seriously after you, he can find out with 100% probability. when you download something, the site logs your ip, and even though your ip changes everyday, they just ask your ISP at what time what person had what ip. if you use a proxy, the proxy server can be forced to tell what time who had what ip......

so the bottom line is ....... dont use the internet  -.o

Answer 11

The answer is yes, and this is from a security professional. Tech-wise, everything is recoverable, unless you destroy your hard disk physically (say hammering it to smithereens).

A forensic expert can bring deleted stuff back to life. When you perform a simple file deletion, only the reference of the file from the file system table is deleted. The file remains on the disk until another file is created over it. Before the file is overwritten, anyone can easily retrieve it with a disk maintenance or an undelete utility. However, there are things an end user can do to make data harder to be revived.

You may want to look into programs such as Eraser. This is a popular program that will overwriting files several times with carefully selected patterns.

http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

That took me some time to compose, I hope it helped you.