How to REALLY delete a file...(WINDOWS USERS ONLY)

You recieve a sensitive email from a buissness associate. Client info, proprietery stuff, whatever. You download the word document, read it, then delete it to make sure no one else gets the info. Two days later, that info, that you thought you protected is all over the net. How did this happen? The file is deleted, right? Gone, right? Wrong. When Windows deletes a file, it doesnt really delete it. It simply tells the computer that the file no longer exists, and deletes the directory. This means that the file itself is still on your hard drive, waiting for a person with evil intentions and the right software to uncover it. The file will stay there until the computer needs this space, when at that time the OS will overwrite the old file with the newer file. So, what are you to do? Well, simply get the right software, and you can really delete a file. This is done by overwriting the sensitive data with a random series of 1's and 0's, many times. The method i prefer is the gutmann methods , which consists of over writing the file 35 times. Some good programs which securely delete a file are Vshred, Clean Disk Security, and . Sorry if i dont have the websites, just search them on google, or just search for "secure file deleters" or some shizit like that. vShred is unfortunatly shareware, letting you make only one pass over the data and only five files at a time. Plus a nag screen.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/indya/down.../10147363.html
^^^you can download it here^^^
Clean disk security is my personal favorite. Not only does it securely delete files, it can also recover accidetally deleted files. it has many other features like cleaning your browser cache, deleting your cookies, cleaning the windows swap file, and cleaning the file slack space. Methods of overwrite include the simple (1 pass), NIS (7 passes), and the Gutmann method (35 times, my personal favorite, like i said before.) Download Clean Disk security here www.theabsolute.net/sware
Wipe is a good one too. Well, theres really nothing else i can think of to say, so i bid you farewell

Maybe since this is a tutorial you should put a little more effort into it.....good thought though. Maybe give some more info on each program, plus a link to the site. I know of at least one program that you left out. Also, I think there's some sort of minimum limit for a tutorial, and you're probably under it. Great idea for a tutorial, but please put some more work into it.

*edit*

Good job, already some nice improvements since I posted this^.

A good first!

Here's some follow up to:
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...elete+securely

PGP is also an alternate solution to those paranoid. You can check that out here: http://www.pgp.com/

One more thing...

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(sorry if i spelled it wrong, to all senior ppl reading this)

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You act like you offended them or something. Every senior here is in one way or another very knowledgeable, but not nit-picky.

Once again, a good first tut

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Every senior here is in one way or another very knowledgeable, but not nit-picky.

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heh

more updates on this tut on 9/22, so those who say it is to short, hold your water

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You act like you offended them or something. Every senior here is in one way or another very knowledgeable, but not nit-picky.

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Bahh.. who's nit-picky :D

Just curious, how would one go about retriving a file that is "deleted" but not gone. Or how could I see what files are gone or just hidden?

There are plenty of file retreivers and disk level programs out there to recover the deleted files.... Just visit google.

My favorite secure delete program

In response to Lansing_Banda's question, Tiger Shark is right, and also, Clean Disk Security is a good combo, deletion recovery program.

I think that is a great idea!! :)

Yeah I know about the programs, but are there any ways to do it manually, like through dos maybe?

i dunno about through dos....

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When using a file shredder, beware of rollback and recovery programs such as GoBack and Windows System Restore. These store copies of your data files, so you'll first need to disable rollback (and eliminate any copies) "before" trying to erase your data completely

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east-tec eraser

acronis drivecleanser

handybits shredder

Lansing: If you really know a drive's structure you can still recover data using good old debug. At your DOS prompt type debug and it will come up wityh it's "-" prompt. At that prompt type "?", without quotes, <ENTER> and it will give you a list of the possible commands. You will see from that that you can read sectors from the disk, write to the disk etc. But you'd better be bloody familiar with the disk structure and the way the allocation tables etc. are constructed or you will make a huge mess of your disk. You are better off with one of the programs unless this is purely a learning exercise......

well Norton WipeInfo remains my fav.

Tiger Shark, do you have any tutorials on how to use dos Debug?

Lansing: a Google search for "debug use dos" turned up this , amongst a host of other stuff.....

Have fun

Hi,

I think that you have to remember that Windows Me and later ship with a "recovery service", this may contain a file that you thought you had deleted.

Also...what is in your page/swap file...totally unencrypted of course :)

Try looking at http://www.ce-infosys.com you are after a product called CompuSec v4.15

Only works with later Windows but gives you a pre-boot authentication and full HDD encryption.

My logic is that if it cannot be read, who cares if it is deleted?......just another way of looking at it?


Cheers