Am I going to be robbed blind?

[SwishYouToASwazzle]

Thought I was being good selling on my PC tower for a tenner for spares/repairs on a Facebook local selling site. But after the man collected it, I started thinking how dodgy he looked and then I realised that although I've deleted documents and photos, I didn't delete internet searches etc. Amazon for instance, saves your password. Ebay. Other shopping sites. I did internet banking as well. Should I be worried and is there anything I can do?

Oh lordy lordy lordy what have I done?

[viperslast]

Change every password you can think of including banking and get new cards issued. Now. Obviously he may be honest as the day is long but don't risk it. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear

[SwishYouToASwazzle]

Internet banking requires encrypted passcodes and pins, so I'm feeling wobbly confident that they can't access savings or current banking.... on the case though changing passwords

[SwishYouToASwazzle]

I've changed emails, facebook, amazon, ebay, store accounts and main banking so far. I'll do other banking tomorrow and phone main bank for advice re cards. OMG all fir a tenner

[viperslast]

It's horrible isn't it. I was told to just remove hard drives as even wiped can be read sometimes. I guess that may be out of date though.

[SwishYouToASwazzle]

My documents included scans of all our passports, driving license, bank statements (out of date but same acc no).... OMG

[SwishYouToASwazzle]

Should I contact the lady I sold to? it was her brother, the dodgy looking man, that collected it. I could say I didn't wipe the hard drive and ask her to do it? appeal to her better nature?

[studyinghard]

Unfortunately, unless wiped completely wiped with something like www.dban.org/, even a novice can recover deleted files from the hard drive. When you delete a file, you don't actually delete it, you just delete the index entry pointing to where it is. Kind of like having a list of every can and jar in your kitchen with each entry having a location (cupboard and shelf) where you can find that item. When you delete a file, it's like just crossing off the item from the list. It's not on the list any more, but the can is still in the cupboard - just a little harder to find - but all you need to do is open all the cupboards and eventually you will find it.

As for what you can do about asking to wipe it... was it sold with the operating system (e.g. Windows) on it? If you wipe that, they'll need to install a new operating system (Windows is about £100).

The best you can probably do, if you can get access to the machine, is install CCleaner and use the Drive Wiper to wipe the freespace which isn't being currently used by files - see www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/wiping-free-disk-space You can also use the other features of the tool for clearing internet caches, etc. The free version contains these features so there's no cost.