Permanently Deleting files with File Shredder

In our previous post on recovering deleted files, we discussed how it is possible to recover a delete files rather easily. Today, I will show you how to protect your sensitive information and keep such data away from prying eyes and curious busybodies.

If the data is preserved on disk when we delete a file, it can be recovered. However, if even a part of this data is destroyed, the file becomes extremely hard to recover. How can we get the computer to write over the data sectors? One way is to defragment the drive, which rearranges the data in the drive, effectively overwriting many sectors that are marked as empty but still contain residual data.

This is not foolproof, though, as you cannot control which sectors are overwritten and which are preserved. A safer way would be to use file shredder, which like a paper shredder, will chop your file up and write over the sectors with random bits of data, effectively destroying the file permanently.



A simple shred of the file and it would be nearly impossible to recover anything useful from it. This is a free program and I strongly recommend you use it to destroy all sensitive data that you do not need anymore.

Recovering deleted files with undelete

Hello! It's time for another post on Fun stuff to do on the computer!

Today we'll be exploring an application I just recently discovered. A brief intro first, did you think that your files were safe after you delete them? Well I assume you already know about the recycle bin, but I'm referring to files after deleting them from the recycling bin. Do they go to file heaven as they transcend through the great beyond? (har har.)

What are files? Files are basically chunks of data arranged in a meaningful fashion and stored in a medium, such as a hard drive. When you delete a file in windows, the files doesn't get erased actually. Windows should do that, but because it takes so much processing power and time they decide to just allocate it as blank space, and overwrite it with another file in future. So between that time and the time you "delete" the file, your file effectively still exists in it's entirety.

Well, not exactly. You see, the pointers to the file have been deleted so the operating system no longer recognizes the file. But the data is still there, and can be recovered.

Undelete is an application that you can use to do just that. It allows anyone who gets their hands on the pc to recover the files that you thought were gone. Think your secrets and safely destroyed? Not. If there hasn't been many new programs installed lately and your file isn't too large, it's quite likely that your file can be recovered with such conventional tools. Think of all the incriminating evidence!

Okay so this program costs money. So what do we do? Find a free one, of course.

Free Undelete is just like a crude copy of undelete, except that it's FREE! Just install this program and scan the hard drive to the location where your deleted file is, and in a matter of minutes you can restore this file to it's former condition.



What can you do with this program? Well you could use it to recover a project you spent hours working on only to have your friend "accidentaly" delete. Or you could find a used computer, install this program and find the secrets hidden within....

What can be done to protect yourself from this? In the next article I will discuss some techniques to securely destroy sensitive data.

How to play games at work with Boss!

So you want to have fun at your monotonous workplace but you're afraid your mean boss will catch you in the act? With this application you'll never have to find another excuse.

Boss! is a program that hides other programs from, well, your boss. This neat executable is a mere 48 KB and will fit on any media such as floppy disks, thumbdrives and CDs. It's a standalone application, and once run will allow you to leave it running hidden in the background. Basically, you can configure this application to hide any type of window at the press of a key or a set of keys that you choose. Once you do that, all matching windows will effectively be hidden from sight (the processes will still be visible in the task manager though). Once your nosy supervisor has passed, simply press another set of keys to restore all your windows to their original state.

You'll want to activate and configure this program before exploring other fun stuff to do on the computer. Simply enter the window title of the program you want to hide into the cofiguration and you're set. It even works with entire classes of windows, for example entering "Microsoft Internet Explorer" will hide all IE windows.