Re: Best Buy - extended warranty

Gordon Burditt wrote:

In fact I think I would have to mail the computer
someplace if I need to fix it under warranty.

This is one reason why I won't buy an extended warranty for a
computer. Cleaning my data off a broken computer is likely
impossible without repairing it first, so the warranty will likely
never get used.

If you encrypt the data you care about, you dont need to clean it.
Or just keep the data you care about on a pair of removable USB
sticks etc.

That's insufficient, unless you've got a way to put the entire
system on a pair of removable USB sticks (no hard disk).

That is just plain wrong. You dont care if the repair operation gets the OS etc.

There's plenty of touchy stuff in the registry,

None in fact if you are paranoid about your data that matters.

including my login password.

Even you should be able to work out how to change
that to a different one in the remote eventuality that
you do ever need to make a warranty claim that
doesnt see you get the original hard drive back.

Now, how do I move *just* the registry to a USB stick and still be able to boot?

Completely trivial to change that password to a
different one in the remote eventuality that you
do ever need to make a warranty claim that
doesnt see you get the original hard drive back.

The only thing that matters is the data you dont want them to get hold of.

But if you remove the hard disk you void the warranty.

No you dont.

Yes, you do,

No you dont.

at least the last time I asked HP about it.

More fool you for believing that lie.

You void the warranty if you install an OS other than the one they preinstalled.

Another pig ignorant lie.

You void the warranty if you take that hard disk out,
install another hard disk, use it, and if the system breaks
(something other than the hard disk), put back the
original hard disk and send it back for warranty repair.

They have no way of knowing you have done that.

They won't go for it (how they know you did this is
another issue - probably they have warranty seal stickers).

No they dont.

They specifically said that if you swap out the hard disk
(for, say, a larger one) even if you copy the same OS
onto the new hard disk, that this voids the warranty,
and putting back the original one won't help.

And you were stupid enough to believe that lie.

And stupid enough to not realise that there is no way they'd ever know.

You can't be sure where an application is going to hide
sensitive data unencrypted while you're working on it.

Yes you can. You can check that before the system has failed
and ensure that that doesnt happen with the data you care about.

Really?

Yep.

How?

Just do a search for the data you care about like your banking PIN etc.

Name all the places this application might put some of your
data, other than in files you specifically tell it to save stuff:

Dont have to name anything, just do a search.

Microsoft Office. Remember that even a document title
("Proposed Merger with ...") or even a new company
name ("Yahbing") in a spell checker exception list
can disclose insider stock trading information.

Completely trivial to ensure that you never get it into any spell check dictionary.

Even if it deletes the data after you're working on it, it's
still in deleted sectors, and possibly swap/page space.

And its easy to check if that is happening and dont
use the data in a way that produces that effect.

That boils down to "don't use the data unencrypted *AT ALL*".

You're lying now.

Just unencrypting the data for use (copying from USB stick to USB stick)
could end up with pieces of unencrypted data in swap/page space.

Wrong with a properly implemented system.

That's true of *any* program you run on Windows.

Wrong, as always. No reason why the data that matters never
gets anywhere near any program you run on windows.

The point of having a computer is to be able to create,
edit, and use this data, not just using the computer as
a carrying case for a USB stick containing sensitive data.

Very few have any data that matters and its completely trivial
to ensure that that never goes anywhere near any program
that isnt designed to ensure that it never goes anywhere near
anywhere else but the encrypted storage or removable storage.


.

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