You’ve deleted a file. So that’s it. It’s gone forever, isn’t it?

Err. No. It’s still there.

The problem with computers is that they take short cuts. And one of the short cuts is by ignoring your command to delete a file. It doesn’t really get deleted. Sometimes, this is useful because it means you can undelete a file that you’ve accidentally deleted.

But how can you make sure that a deleted file stays completely deleted? Maybe you’re selling your computer and you’d rather the new owner had no chance of finding out all of your passwords and logins. Maybe you had some confidential documents from your company and you want to make sure that no-one else gets access to them. Maybe you’ve deleted some emails that you don’t want anyone to be able to read.

It doesn’t matter what the reason is, just hitting the delete button isn’t good enough. Read the rest of this entry