Is removing hard drive enough to secure old laptop before selling it or giving away?

I have an old Sony Vaio laptop, which I have previously used to store sensitive data (cryptographic private keys of certain value). Now I am not using the laptop and I will store it, sell it or give it away.

I have already removed the old hard drive. Is that enough to ensure that the private keys cannot be found or would I also need to do something about BIOS, RAM, etc?

windows - DrUpdate.dll error in sfc /scannow

I have an issue with sfc /scannow. It finishes the verification process and informs me of errors there were unable to be fixed. I looked into CBS.log file and I found four entries related to drupdate.dll. As I understand, this is related with driver updates over windows update?
I'm running
Win 10 Pro x64.

AMD A6 5200

4GB DDR3 RAM

SATA 500GB HDD

This is a snippet of that error

2016-03-11 18:44:18, Info                  CSI    00003cfe@2016/3/11:17:44:18.431 Primitive installers committed for repair
2016-03-11 18:44:18, Info                  CSI    00003cff [SR] Verify complete
2016-03-11 18:44:18, Info                  CSI    00003d00 [SR] Verifying 100 (0x0000000000000064) components

2016-03-11 18:44:18, Info                  CSI    00003d01 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2016-03-11 18:44:23, Info                  CSI    00003d02 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:12]"DrUpdate.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-ServicingStack, version 10.0.10586.113, arch amd64, nonSxS, pkt {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35} in the store, file cannot be checked
2016-03-11 18:44:24, Info                  CSI    00003d03@2016/3/11:17:44:24.310 Primitive installers committed for repair

I tried using dism /checkhealth (not the precise command, I don't know it from my head). What else can I do?

I tried asking MS support but they give me useless advice. The reason I used sfc /scannow is because KB3140768 Cumulative update fails to install. Also I tried manually replacing the drupdate.dlls that I have found and they were 1kb in size. I replaced them with the ones from the ISO image of Win 10 and still the same error occurs in sfc.

Answer

Download the Update KB3139907, use 7zip to extract the MSU. Now use expand.exe to extract the KB3139907.CAB:

expand -F:* C:\Windows10.0-KB3139907-x64.cab C:\Windows10.0-KB3139907-x64

Now run Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\Windows10.0-KB3139907-x64 /LimitAccess to restore the Dll.

freeze - Windows 10 PC keeps freezing when cold boot

TL;DR:

• PC having weird freezes after cold boot. The UI still reacts but after 10~30 seonds all done actions happen the same time.


• I am wondering if this could be a defective CPU or PSU.

Since few months I am having problems with my computer. The first problems were BSOD's and getting freezes when under load.
I updated my motherboard bios and also replaced it but it didn't affect.

The following problems I have with my first motherboard:

• Under load(like video encoding) or at random moments getting these BSOD: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT.


• Freezes where the computer suddenly does nothing and the sound keeps hanging.

After some research I updated the bios and disabled Intel Turbo boost and also disabled all power saving options. This affected a little bit but it was impossible to encode a video. After 1 or 2 minutes I get a BSOD.

I replaced my Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 motherboard with a MSI Z97 Krait. Also replaced my 4x 2GB ram with 2x8GB The this helped noticable a lot. But still having occasionally freezes and BSOD when under load.

With my new MSI motherboard I'm having new problems. When doing a litteraly cold boot the next day windows keeps hanging for around 30 seconds. The freezing occurs several times within the first half hour. After the computer is warmed up, then It works normally(beside of the BSOD when under load).

When the computer is freezing, the Windows UI still reacts but I notice that the HDD led is constantly on so there is 100% disk activity. My mouse still moves. For example if I click on the start button or opening my web browser or navigating to a website, nothing happens and the cursor changes into a loading icon. After around 30 seconds all actions happen within a second. The disk load also is gone.

With the new MSI motherboard I can do:

• Blend teting(done for 1 hour before I cancelled)


• Small FFT(done for 1 hour before I cancelled)


• In-place-largge FFT's(crashes after 3 seconds)

This is my setup:

• MSI Z97 Krait with the latest bios update.


• Intel I7 4890k


• 2x Samsung 830 SSD 128GB RAID0


• 1x Hitachi 2TB HDD


• 2x 8GB Kingston KHX1866C10D3/8G


• Coolermaster Silent power 1000w(frankenstein PSU from 2010)


• Asus Nvidia Geforce GTX 770 2GB


• Windows 10 x64 Pro up to date.


• Using ESET Nod32 virusscanner

Things I did:

• I reinstalled Windows 10 3 times now.


• Changed my motherboard and ram


• Runned Intel CPU diagnosis tool


• Did memtest for few hours


• Replaced my old Logitech G5 mouse with a Logitech G503. When doing a
  cold boot I was hearing sometimes a device unplug and plug sound. The
  mouse disappears for around 3 seconds and then comes back. This also
  happens in the first half hour. With my new mouse this problem is
  solved.


• Removed my old Creative Xfi Xtreme Music sound card because windows 10
  kept uninstalling the drivers.


• Put the Windows energy settings to High performance.


• Sent my old Gigabyte Z97 HD3 motherboard RMA. The shop returned it because they tested it and didn't found any defect. They also told me that they runned 24 hour prime95 while I couldn't do it for longer than 5 seconds.


• I put the VCORE to 1.3 volt which resulted into less BSOD.

After some search on the internet I found out that it could be a defective CPU or PSU.

Before I throw more money away I want to be sure what the source of my symptoms are.

Answer

I replaced the PSU last week but it didn't solve my problem.

I have found the problem. My RAID0 was giving problems.
This was the message I got in my logs:

Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued.

I checked the system logs again and noticed this

Windows 10 is having some weird power saving features that will try to spin down your raid0 disks.

Solution:
First you need to check the power options for PCI Express Link State Power Management. This should be Off:

If you are running Intel Rapid Storage Technology then you also need to disable Link Power Management here:

anti virus - How to disable (signature-based) real-time scanning and leave behavior monitoring enabled in Windows Defender?

I believe that Windows Defender included in Windows 10 implements some forms of protection other than signature-based threat detection. Two Group Policy settings indicates this: "Turn on behavior monitoring" and "Monitor file and program activity on your computer".

Since I really dislike signature based-detection (and employ a really strict policy for threat mitigation instead), it's of my best interest to disable real-time file scanning in my Windows 10 system, but without turning off real-time protection entirely. Can it be done?

There's a policy setting called "Turn off real-time protection", but judging by it's name, I'm afraid it disables the other components. There's also "Scan all downloaded files and attachments", which I tried setting to Disabled, but doesn't seem to work (browsing through files and plugging external drives still triggers file scanning).

Thanks.

Answer

Found the answer myself (more details here). Basically, it's as simple as setting the Group Policy called Monitor file and program activity on your computer to Disabled.

For users of Windows editions without gpedit.msc, a DWORD entry called DisableOnAccessProtection must be created under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Real-Time Protection and set to 1.

The name of this registry entry tells you exactly what "Monitor file and program activity" actually do: It scans files "On Access" (such as when Windows Explorer lists the contents of a directory). Nothing more.

ubuntu - Why is Dell D620 SMP battery not charging?

What problems may cause the battery not to charge or Ubuntu to report only a 6% charge?

The AC Adapter is warm, emitting a high-pitched buzzing noise, and says "INPUT: 100-240 V ~1.5A / 50/60HZ", "OUTPUT: 19.5V (solid overbar, dotted underbar) 4.62A".

I just bought a replacement battery from Yahoo Shopping Japan; came about 40% charged. Followed the instructions to discharge it down to 10%, wound up using it past then, tonight plugging it in to fully charge as directed, using the computer while charging it.

Lubuntu 16.04 reports the battery as 'Charging', but it has been at 6% for 30 minutes, so it appears not to be charging. Dual-booting into Windows 7, it says "7% available (plugged in, not charging)".

macos - Snow Leopard clean install on partition and resize later

I am planning to do an installation of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

This is the approach I have thought of.

1. Currently the MacBook has Leopard (10.5) on it.



2. Partition the single HDD of 150GB (75 GB already used) into two partitions, 75 each.

   
   

   a.) Should I use Disk Utility on the Leopard install disc or the Snow Leopard install disc? Would that make a difference? As I read somewhere that how the partition is stored is different in Leopard vs Snow Leopard.




3. Pop Snow Leopard disc reboot and pick the new partition and install SL on it.




4. Reboot and copy over stuff(docs, pics) from old Leopard's home folder into new one. (Don't care much about applications. very few and they can be easily reinstalled)




5. Once the stuff(4) gets copied, I want to reclaim the space used by the Leopard partition and give it all to the new Snow leopard. Should I use Disk Utility again? It wouldn't destroy my data in SL when resizing?

At the end of the above I wish to achieve the following.

1. Get a fresh shiny install of SL.


2. Preserve all old Leopard home folder stuff till I complete the SL install and can boot into Leopard if SL install went wrong in the intermediate.


3. Once migrated SL will remains as the single OS managing everything.


4. There should be only one partition with all stuff on it.

Is there anything missing or would go wrong with this approach? Will there be some extra work/steps involved somewhere which would be troublesome?

Thanks

Answer

Ok I started doing this as I dint get any responses for sometime.

1. Rebooted and booted from the Snow leopard install disc. To answer my own question, there is no problem in using disk utility with GUID partition map which is what you have if you started out with leopard. You can see that information at the bottom of DU before doing anything.




2. Opened Disk utility. Split into two partitions. [A] and [B]. [A] holding existing partition and [B] a fresh partition naming it as SL HD for identification. [A] appears on top of [B].



3. Went back to install screen and proceeded install Snow Leopard(SL) into [B]. After install [B] is set as the active partition (a.k.a Startup Disk in Mac parlance), rebooted and got into migration assistant.


4. Selected [A] as migration source and selected few folders(docs, pics) and network settings. Dint move Apps etc.


5. After moving rebooted into SL and everything looked fine. Noticed that some apps that I dint choose to move were still running in SL (mmm). Since I dint want them, went into the [A] part from finder and trashed applications folder, system and library.


6. Now since SL was working fine wanted to reclaim the space occupied by [A] and give it to [B].


7. Rebooted into install DVD. Opened disk utility. Found that partition wouldn't allow to resize [B] upwards. :(. Seems you cannot resize partitions with OS installed upwards(probably because it has the bootloader portion for that partition).


8. So after investigating some commercial partioners like iPartition, decided to investigate inexpensive approaches.


9. Found Restore option in DL which allows you to pick a source partition and let it be cloned over to a another partition.


10. Search for "Restore in disk utility" in google before doing it as you need to verify and repair disk permissions.


11. After that select Restore, select [B] as source and [A] as destination. Hit restore.


12. Now [A] has a cloned copy of SL. In utilities select startup disk and select [A].


13. Reboot and check if SL is working from [A].


14. Reboot back into install DVD. delete [B] and resize [A] to fill the full size. This will work as your resizing downwards and there is empty space left by [B]. Apply and your done.

macos - Can I map the Windows context menu key to Option on OSX?

104-key Windows keyboards have this key with a sort of context-menu icon on it, which on Windows simulates a right-mouse-button-press. I'd like to make it act as a right-hand-site 'Option' key instead. Is there a tool somewhere that would allow me to do this?