[IT_gal2000]

Hey All!

I am looking for some info. on a Windows 2000 machine. I was told to run the cipher /w command on the winnt folder to clean up the disk. Is this a good idea? Will this just write over the deleted stuff, or will it erase the entire winnt folder. I was to told this might speed up my system. Thanks!

[Advertisements]

i've never used the cipher command..but the reading i've found suggests that it just overwrites any data that has been tombstoned (marked as deleted)...so basically...any file that you told the system to delete...just get's marked as tombstoned...not deleted (marking as tombstoned generally means the pointer is removed..basically making the file useless under normal circumstances...but still recoverable)...the cipher command with the /w switch will over write those files making them useless if recovered.

[dsenette]

i've never used the cipher command..but the reading i've found suggests that it just overwrites any data that has been tombstoned (marked as deleted)...so basically...any file that you told the system to delete...just get's marked as tombstoned...not deleted (marking as tombstoned generally means the pointer is removed..basically making the file useless under normal circumstances...but still recoverable)...the cipher command with the /w switch will over write those files making them useless if recovered.

[gerryf]

it will write over de-allocated space in the folder, but it will not speed up your system, but only if you deleted encrypted files there to begin with....not sure how it would speed it up

I don't get the idea

[IT_gal2000]

Thanks for the feedback guys!