How to Permanently Delete Files On Your Computer

For whatever reason, you want to be able to permanently delete files on your computer. It might be that you possess sensitive information, which you want to get rid of securely, or that you just enjoy the additional sense of privacy. Now different operating systems and different computers handle deleting a document or file differently, but if you do not know exactly what it is you are doing, then chances are those files are going to leave a trail, and might even be recoverable. 

To put your mind at ease, and to ensure that you can delete files securely, here is how you can permanently delete files on your computer.

Manually Delete the File

The first obvious way to permanently get rid of a file is to do it yourself. Some of you may know that when you select a file and press on the delete button on your keyboard, your computer sends the file to the recycle bin, or its equivalent, depending on your operating system. The recycle bin makes then keeps your files there for some time, just in case you decide to recover it later on. One way to get rid of the file is to open the recycle bin and permanently delete your file from there. You can similarly achieve this by typing in the appropriate command in the command prompt. If you are one of the people whose computers run a Windows operating system, then you can directly and permanently delete your file by pressing the shift and delete buttons together.

Employ the Use of Software

If you do not want to get caught up in all the technicalities and want something that guarantees permanent deletion, then consider employing the use of specialized software. With the press of a button, your file can be gone forever. By employing a combination of external hardware with software, Shred Cube makes it easy to delete files by simply plugging it into your computer and shredding the files you want to go. These types of specialized software do their job by scrubbing all related data files, in addition to the original file, and ensure that there are no traces left.

Perform a Scan

While deleting your file manually does the job, and permanently deletes it, there is still the possibility of recovery. Recovering a file in this scenario is possible by using dedicated software and tools. The reason deleting a file permanently can be tricky is that, while nothing is pointing to the part of your data storage unit which says this is a file, the data might still be there. It can only be truly gone if that data is overwritten. To make sure that that is the case, and that even if you used specialized software, the file is gone, you can use dedicated tools to perform a scan for the file. You can even use those tools that have been used to recover files considered gone forever.

Get rid of a file once and for all sounds simpler than it is. Because computers are such complicated pieces of technology, it can be difficult getting the reassurance you need for the privacy of your files. By following these steps, you can be sure that the files you chose to delete are permanently gone.