How do I clean my desktop without admin access?

June 17, 2004 10:56 AM

Let's say that someone was leaving their job. They're leaving amicably and of their own volition. They wish no ill will on their soon-to-be former employer, but they would like to leave their workstation as clean as the day they first arrived. We should note here that this person does not have Admin access to this machine, so installable options (like Window Washer) are probably out of the question. Any suggestions?
posted by grabbingsand to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Leave it be and let your IT guy re-image the machine all afresh.

When I have users leave, I remind them to simply get whatever personal stuff they have off the machine if they want to keep any of it, then I wipe the drive and re-image. Your efforts may well be wasted.
posted by briank at 11:26 AM on June 17, 2004

I say, delete all of your porn and MP3's, clear your browser history and Temporary Internet Files, trash your personal emails, delete any stray icons from the desktop, and go home. The next person who uses the machine will either a) have the machine wiped for them by IT, or b) will log on as a different user anyway. As long as you don't leave anything incriminating on the machine, I doubt anyone will care. You'd be amazed at what people will leave on their machines. One guy who left here last year left over 100 MB of hardcore fetish porn on his hard drive. I just deleted it . . . after making a CD of it for . . . evidentiary purposes.
posted by vraxoin at 11:26 AM on June 17, 2004

Can you run the Disk Cleanup utility? Just use that to get rid of most usual user leftovers and you should be ok. Hit the Content>Personal Information section in IE options too, to be sure you don't leave saved form data behind, either. Empty cache. Delete user files. Steal whiteout and screenwipes from utility room. leave.
posted by Hackworth at 11:36 AM on June 17, 2004

seconded.

having worked as desktop support, i can tell you that that computer will be formatted. all you gotta do is get yer personal files off it, cause everything will be gone.

and of course delete anything you wouldn't want others to see.
posted by Miles Long at 11:46 AM on June 17, 2004

Don't forget to delete temp files in c:\temp, c:\Windows\temp, and in your profile. Delete cache, history, cookies. Clear out my documents. If you use Outlook, clear out C:\Documents and Settings\%Userid\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and C:\Documents and Settings\%Userid\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook (Outlook saves attachments to a folder, but I mis-remember which one). Look for and delete any *.pst files (outlook personal storage). Empty the trash bin.

Set the paging file to 0, then back to normal and defrag the hard drive, which makes it slightly more difficult to recover deleted items.

Not all machines get reimaged, although I agree that it's better that way. It's entertaining to leave your favorite funny pics, etc. for the IT staff, but, of course, you've been sending them to IT all along, right?
posted by theora55 at 2:00 PM on June 17, 2004

having worked as desktop support, i can tell you that that computer will be formatted.

Having worked on both sides of the help desk, I'll say that a wise admin will format it and re-image, but a lazy or under-supported admin will, sometimes, just slide your computer over to the next user and create a new mail account on it. It's happened to me.
posted by scarabic at 4:04 PM on June 17, 2004

Is this a small company? It may be that your profile will be there forever. If so, clean out what you can and ask whoever does support if they would destroy your info/profile/whatever if they won't re-image it after you leave. Although, that's probably a good way to get some IT guy going through your crap hoping to find something interesting.
posted by skallas at 10:49 PM on June 17, 2004

I usually just format the drive before I leave.

A DOS boot floppy is all you need.
posted by mbell at 12:19 AM on June 18, 2004

If this is a smaller company, it is unlikely that the machine will be re-imaged. Just to be sure, clear all your browsing history as much as you can and search for appropriate file extensions to ensure nothing untoward remains. If you use roaming profiles on your network, make sure that the server copy of your profile (as well as any other machines you have logged on to) is the new clean one if possible.

Just because you are leaving on good terms doesn't mean that some officious prick who harboured a secret hate for you won't get to the computer after you leave to see what sort of trouble he can cause. Better safe than sorry.
posted by dg at 1:55 AM on June 18, 2004