How do i actually delete files on my computer?

Question

This might sound like a stupid question to some,but some of us know that when you press "delete permanently" all you are doing is making the file unseen,while the actual data is still on your pc which then cloggs up that space on your hardrive.I have a program called "Eraser" but is there a way i can actually delete my files using the recycle bin?Thanks

Answer 1

use ccleaner and have it do a DOD delete.

Answer 2

You are correct, using windows delete simply hides the files. They will not be gone until the space take occupy is overwritten by new data. I am not familiar with eraser but programmes like CCleaner and Cyberscrub can totally remove files by making a user defined number of " passes " over them, that is to say it overwrites the file to be deleted with random useless data. The more passes the more secure the deletion. The more secure the deletion the less likely the possibility of someone being able to "undelete" your files. Both programmes can be added to the right click menu of the recycle bin. You do need to be very carefull when using such programmes as what they do is permanent. CCleaner has a free version. Have a look at File Hippo www.filehippo.com



Hope this helps.

Jjf

Answer 3

Right click on the file, then press shift and left click delete from the drop-down menu. That deletes the file rather than send it to the recycle bin. If you then de-fragment the hard drive the file can not be recovered.



I have file recovery programs and these programs do recover most files after a delete, but never do after a de-fragment has been performed.

Answer 4

The only way you come close to completely removing any written file material on your hard drive, is to use a free software like DBAN ( Darik's Boot and Nuke ). Programs such as this will "write over" every file on your hard drive with numbers, so that under "ordinary" circumstances, no body can retrieve personal information from your hard drive. "Ordinary" circumstances don't include the software and other means of retrieving information from a computer hard drive that the government ie. FBI, CIA, IRS and probably some others from using their "special" equipment to read every file that was ever on your hard drive from the first time you powered it on, layer by layer. All you do when you delete a file or program, is create a space on the hard drive for another file or program to be placed in that "empty" spot. The only way to defeat even the processes that the government has available is to remove the hard drive from the computer and run it through a metal shredder.

Answer 5

Even though it "cloggs up that space" it will be overwritten sometime when your computer needs the space. It is not counted as part of your "percent of hard drive full".



The data can only be a 1 or a 0. You can't actually erase the digit to blank. Your "Eraser" software just scrambles the 1s and 0s so it is harder for a technician (the cops) to recover data.

Answer 6

Download and run CCleaner it will clean out all the trash on your PC it will not harm your PC the only thing is you will have to sign in everywhere again but you know your passwords so not really a problem just a bit of bother. Get it at the URL below, by the way it's Free. Cheers.



http://www.piriform.com/

Answer 7

Deleted files do not clog your disk, if you really delete them (Shift + Delete, not just move to wastebin), they are marked as deleted in filesystem and all that space is marked as free, it still can be 'undeleted' but if some new data is written into same disk space you cannot restore the old file.

Answer 8

You can empty your recycle bin or you could..

Go into control panel>Add/Remove Programmes>Select the Programme you want to remove and click Remove.

Answer 9

Using recycle bin you only make it unvisible and you can restore it till somethink overwrites it. Use eraser if you want delete files permantely.

Answer 10

right click delete