quicktime error message on windows me

M

mbelgeri

New Member
I'm new to using eraser and I'm trying to erase the hard drive on an older computer with windows me. I'm trying to download (from a USB drive) the eraser program 5.7 and I get this error message:

"Couldn't open the file "Eraser57Setup.zip" because it is not a file that Quicktime understands."

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks
 
If my failing memory allows me to remember that far back, I believe that Windows Me has no built in support for .zip files. What seems to have happened is that , somehow, Quicktime has been associated with .zip files on the ME machine.

The best thing is to decompress the install file on another machine with .zip support, then copy it to and run it from the flash drive. You could also install a program such as 7-Zip to decompress the file on the Me machine, but this seems an unnecessary extra step.

If what you want to do is simply and completely erase the hard drive, I would advise you to consider Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN), which has its own forum on this Board. The big advantage of DBAN is that it runs from a floppy or CD in its own OS, and can therefore erase the whole of the Windows Me installation as part of the single process. It is only possible to do this with Eraser if you remove the drive, place it in a caddy, and erase it from another machine, and even then it's at least a two stage process (erase files, then free space).

Hope this helps,

David
 
Thanks! I did open the zip file on another computer and was able to download on the windows me computer.

I just want to erase all the files on the windows me computer b/c we're donating it. Will eraser do this for me?

I don't think I want to erase the windows me OS.
 
mbelgeri said:
Thanks! I did open the zip file on another computer and was able to download on the windows me computer.
Click to expand...
Great minds ... :)

mbelgeri said:
I just want to erase all the files on the windows me computer b/c we're donating it. Will eraser do this for me? I don't think I want to erase the windows me OS.
Click to expand...
Yes. Eraser will do this. What you might wish to consider is what the process might leave behind.

You can/should erase all user files, and uninstall any programs you don't want to leave on the machine. You should then delete all your internet clutter, and run Windows disk cleanup (or a better cleanup utility if you have one) to get rid of unused files in system folders. Then use Eraser to wipe the free drive space. When (and only when) you've done this, you can do a defrag to tidy up the disk.

Even all this will not touch (1) the page file (2) the Registry, both of which will contain odd (probably fragmentary) bits of user data. You can see why I recommended DBAN!

This is a bit beyond the scope of the question, but you might also want to consider whether anyone wants a Windows Me machine these days, even as a gift. If the machine will run XP, finding the new user a spare licence might help. Or there's always Linux ...

David
 
THANK YOU! yes, I think I will attempt to use DBAN based on what you've said. You may see my questions on that support forum in just a bit :wink:
 
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