Web Talk

After writing this article speaking about software to recover files accidentally deleted from your computer, a lot of people has started asking me about ways to clean/delete/erase files from the hard disk permanently. Basically, they are asking for free a software that deletes files without any chance to recover them later. In fact, as you know, once you have deleted data such as documents, MP3, Movies etc . and emptied the recycle bin all your files do continue to survive in your computer’s hard disk. It is sufficent to use one of those software I mention in the article above to recover whatever you wish from whatever hard disk you want. So what solution do you have to be sure that the laptop you have just sold is not going to give all your sensitive infos away to the first criminal it meets (identity theft)? Here are the freeware solutions you were looking for!

1. Darik’s Boot and Nuke (”DBAN”) | This free, open source software securely erases and wipes whatever file you want from your computer without any hope to recover it. This tool is an exellent utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. You can install DBAN to boot from a floppy disk, CD, or USB stick, depending on the computer’s boot options. It runs on Windows 3.x/95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
2. Heidi Eraser | This tool lets you delete and remove sensitive data from your hard disk by overwriting it several times. This assures you that nobody will be able to get it back. Here are some of its features: Eraser is able to wipe files and folders, encrypted files and drives, files from the recycle bin (it deletes all of the stuff from the bin in a way that they will not be readable anymore), Internet cache and cookies. It also destroy data from Network files, Floppy Disks, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW. It supports FAT32 and NTFS Files Systems. Heidi Eraser works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server and DOS.
3. SecureDelete | This freeware software instead of erasing data permanetly, just mee is up in a way that even if it is fully recoverable it will be impossible to decipher it.