Ask HN: How do I clean a Laptop from a previous setup by a Law Firm | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I clean a Laptop from a previous setup by a Law Firm

4 pointsbetamonk13 comments

Hi,

My wife left an old firm that had a tech guy setup the entire look an feel of the OS to the Law Firm style.

I am looking for resources how to clean the laptop entirely without leaving anything that can get the firm access to my wife's laptop in the future.

I had the access to see exactly what the tech guy was doing since I had the laptop next to me and he had remoted in to do the changes.

Where can I go to learn how to make sure the laptop is clean without the complete wipe.

Thank you for everyone's input.

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I know you said “without a complete wipe,” but that's honestly the best approach. Drag all documents and files to an external drive, take note of all programs your wife still wants on the computer, then clean install the OS. After, drag all files back from the external drive and reinstall all programs you made note of. That guarantees a clean slate.

Otherwise, you’ll have to go through the OS and attempt to uninstall anything that appears to be installed by the law firm, but usually you’ll leave behind small trace files and things that might keep them up and running.

traviswingo,

That is my concern that there might be some traces left behind. I agree with anyone that will suggest a clean wipe but at this time I don't have that time allocated as my wife is in the middle of a few cases.

However, once I will get laptop for a longer duration, my goal is to do a complete wipe and re-install.

Thank you for your response.

Make a system restore backup, and preferably a full disk image backup, in case the below screws something up. Run it overnight on the weekend, to an external hd enclosure.

Any programs she is using with keys from the Law Firm. Look up how to export settings and how to change product keys.

This is the most potentially problematic thing that could bork you if it resets stuff she needs, but you can always restore from your full disk backup.

Change the styling

See http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/how-can-i-restore-my-window...

Remove unneeded programs.

go to control panel, add remove programs, and remove any programs that your wife doesn't need.

Reset and turn on the windows firewall

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff428142(v=ws.10...

There's a network and system activity monitoring tool called GlassWire[1] with good visualizations and intuitive reports. When it was first shown here couple of years ago [2], I was very impressed. I don't use Windows anymore but hopefully the tool's still as good and maintained well. Maybe you can run it for a few weeks to either convince yourself there's no mischief from the old firm, or take more targeted actions.

[1]: https://www.glasswire.com/

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8222652

lovelearning,

I am going to give this a try. Thank you for the share.

Just buy a new laptop. Disable the network card on the old laptop, and transfer the files via usb.

It will probably cost you $2000 tops with all of the software, etc. The cost of wiping the old one will be much greater considering the amount of time it is going to take to make sure everything is off of the old laptop and the risk of missing something.

You mentioned that she doesn't want to lose all of the software on the laptop. Does she own the license for the software or is that property of her old firm?

jklein11,

Thank you for your response and advice. Yes, she owns the license as well as the new firm she joined has purchased the software they use. She doesn't want to go through re-installing and asking for the software again because of the time crunch she is in.

The suggestion in buying a new laptop at this time is not an expense we can take on. I will have to think of something else as the clean wipe is the only way to do it I guess.

Thank you.

If this is a temporary solution you could use the laptop with the network card disabled.

If this isn't a license issue the price of replacing the laptop would be way less. The model you mentioned previously sells brand new for $900 or less. I saw some refurbished models for ~$300.

Is her new firm providing her with a laptop? It strikes me as odd that law firms have a BYOD policy when the data that is stored on them is sensitive and proprietary

jklein11,

The purchase of the laptop when bought new was over $2K. My wife is frugal and won't spend more money on another "new" or "refurb" computer.

Licensing is not an issue. It's the scarce time and how busy my wife is that I can't wipe and re-load.

But, reading everyone's comments the best way is to wipe. I will provide that option to my wife and proceed when I can to wipe and re-install.

Thank you for your response.

>Just buy a new laptop.

Yeah, shure....

Buy a new SSD, put the old in a USB case and install the OS and the apps. I don't know what apps a lawyer needs but it shouldn't take longer than 3 hours while watching TV and 130$.

It's far wiser to get an official, new copy of whatever OS you prefer. And then install that OS.

The laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad T450S that has a built in recovery partition with the original Windows 7 OS.

The issue at hand is that she doesn't want to lose all the software nor does she have the time to go through the complete clean up.

I would rather at this time be able to do a clean sweep and then when i will have more time to do a complete overhaul.

Thank you for your response.

Make a system of restore for backup

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