Deleting A File Doesn't Mean It's Deleted Forever So How Do You Securely Erase Data From A Computer?
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Sam Miller
May 4, 2013, 7:20:03 AM5/4/13
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Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Sam Miller
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Article Title: Deleting A File Doesn't Mean It's Deleted Forever So How Do You Securely Erase Data From A Computer?
Author: Sam Miller
Word Count: 527
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=168714&ca=Computers+and+Technology
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=168714
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=168714
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It is a common misconception of PC users that once they have dropped a file into the recycle bin and emptied it that that is it, the file is gone for good.
Wrong!
All that happens when you erase a file by either deleting it or putting it into the trash, is that Windows has been told not to recognize the file so you do not see it when you open a folder or your desktop. In fact, it is not erased at all, the data is still there on your hard drive and it will remain there until the information is over written by some other file or data. Knowing where to look will also lead a snooper to those places in the Windows operating system that a casual user would not normally know about or think to look such as temporary documents or temporary internet files and the cache.
The issue is how do we get rid of files and information that allows you to have a degree of confidence and security that the data has been erased forever?
This becomes particularly acute when you are looking at recycling or trashing an old computer as many people are currently doing with the Windows Vista upgrading that is happening at the moment. Handing over a PC to the local school, charity or selling it on becomes fraught if you have data lurking their that can easily be recovered by a free file recovery program downloaded from the hundreds freely available on the internet. Imagine your credit card information, banking passwords or personal information such as family photographs being recovered in a matter of seconds from your machine?
Your first stop is the internet and simply putting file recovery freeware as a search string in your search engine will throw up a lot of utilities that you can feely use. PCInspector is a good example but there are many more, and here is an overview of the features you can expect. PCInspector will recover deleted files of a wide variety and not just Windows files such as Word, PowerPoint or Excel. You can recover html, xhtml, gif, avi, mp3 files and many more.
Moving onto the commercially available software, Stompsoft have a good range of file recovery software as well as an extremely good file erase package that has been certified to meet the US Department of Defense sanitation standard for data erasure. Typically, the commercial software tends to retail at around the $20-$30 mark but if you are serious about your PC security this is a small price to pay. Commercial software does tend to offer more features than freeware and to be frank, the support you get with commercial software does tend to make the price worthwhile as in many cases you will be looking to use a file delete utility prior to ridding yourself of the PC. Once the machine has gone you are not going to get the chance to go back and repeat a file erase utility in this instance so you need to get it right the first time.
About The Author: If you are interested in learning more about http://www.shredagent.com/ wipe pc as a privacy tool, check Sam Miller new web-site.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=168714
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
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Message delivered directly to members of the group:
publish-the...@googlegroups.com
*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Sam Miller
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=168714
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=168714
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: Deleting A File Doesn't Mean It's Deleted Forever So How Do You Securely Erase Data From A Computer?
Author: Sam Miller
Word Count: 527
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=168714&ca=Computers+and+Technology
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=168714
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=168714
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
It is a common misconception of PC users that once they have dropped a file into the recycle bin and emptied it that that is it, the file is gone for good.
Wrong!
All that happens when you erase a file by either deleting it or putting it into the trash, is that Windows has been told not to recognize the file so you do not see it when you open a folder or your desktop. In fact, it is not erased at all, the data is still there on your hard drive and it will remain there until the information is over written by some other file or data. Knowing where to look will also lead a snooper to those places in the Windows operating system that a casual user would not normally know about or think to look such as temporary documents or temporary internet files and the cache.
The issue is how do we get rid of files and information that allows you to have a degree of confidence and security that the data has been erased forever?
This becomes particularly acute when you are looking at recycling or trashing an old computer as many people are currently doing with the Windows Vista upgrading that is happening at the moment. Handing over a PC to the local school, charity or selling it on becomes fraught if you have data lurking their that can easily be recovered by a free file recovery program downloaded from the hundreds freely available on the internet. Imagine your credit card information, banking passwords or personal information such as family photographs being recovered in a matter of seconds from your machine?
Your first stop is the internet and simply putting file recovery freeware as a search string in your search engine will throw up a lot of utilities that you can feely use. PCInspector is a good example but there are many more, and here is an overview of the features you can expect. PCInspector will recover deleted files of a wide variety and not just Windows files such as Word, PowerPoint or Excel. You can recover html, xhtml, gif, avi, mp3 files and many more.
Moving onto the commercially available software, Stompsoft have a good range of file recovery software as well as an extremely good file erase package that has been certified to meet the US Department of Defense sanitation standard for data erasure. Typically, the commercial software tends to retail at around the $20-$30 mark but if you are serious about your PC security this is a small price to pay. Commercial software does tend to offer more features than freeware and to be frank, the support you get with commercial software does tend to make the price worthwhile as in many cases you will be looking to use a file delete utility prior to ridding yourself of the PC. Once the machine has gone you are not going to get the chance to go back and repeat a file erase utility in this instance so you need to get it right the first time.
About The Author: If you are interested in learning more about http://www.shredagent.com/ wipe pc as a privacy tool, check Sam Miller new web-site.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=168714
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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