computer help: I do I delete permanantly from my computer and harddrive? - Help.com

Are you wanting to delete some specific files, or everything?

If you want to wipe the entire hard drive, you can use a program called DBAN
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

This will write over all the data on the hard disk multiple times to prevent any data recovery.

Use a program like

rest2514.exe

or Necrofile
or Killdisk

However whatever it is you want gone, will most likely have been copied to numerous locations as a temporary file, so the only way to be sure is to necro the whole drive and reformat and install windows again. Then do a rest2514 scan to see if it has gone.

Actually the only way to be sure is to take the drive out and hit it with a sledgehammer/drill the discs etc.

Rosanbo wrote:
Actually the only way to be sure is to take the drive out and hit it with a sledgehammer/drill the discs etc.

:-) heheh.

If you’ve accidentally downloaded something illegal I suggest the above action. If a little less action is required & you know the location of the files, you can use BCWHIPE or ERACER, both are free, just Google for them. Also, there is a program which will clean up almost all of your defined & temporary files called WINDOW WASHER. You can set it to clean automatically or manually. It has a bleach function which will over write each item before removing. Keep in mind some things may still reside in your swap memory, which is much harder to detect and remove.

Good luck Ron

Try Eraser. It’s one of the best and it’s free! Be sure to check out the options. You can choose whether to rewrite over erased data from 1 to 37 times. You can do it one file at a time, one folder at a time, or several files or folders at a time, or all unused disk space for that matter.

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/