Removing Deleted files?

2ax

the Tune-Up Utilities undelete component moves them either to the original location or a nominated one, then use the shredder.

I've just played with it a few times. I restored the files to New Folder on the desktop. It seems it won't restore more than one file with the same name, so I did it a few times, dragging each New Folder to the Recycle Bin, then shredded that.

Now I seem to have got down from about 4000 to 185 that don't seem to delete, dll, ini, wu cab and recycler files mainly.

And that reminds me to ask - Master File Table - can that be defragmented, reduced, or anything or only by a re-format?


I don't like the wording of the Evidence Eliminator website - it almost seems to hint that you've got something to hide just because you are looking at the site, and there are better deletion standards than the US DoD anyway.

Number_6_3

squeaky wrote:

PGP - Pretty Good Privacy, wipes all free space on a drive and over-writes as many times as you want. They guarantee (pretty much) placing a file beyond recovery by ANY agency.

You can recover anything from anything if you are prepared to chuck enough resources and money at it...short of actually destroying the hard drive or storage medium...

For most home users the ones mentioned will be more than adequate...

R

itsfrommark

Its worth mentioning that once you feel you have erased your files by your chosen method the dreaded index.dat files can be removed using the freeware from

http://support.it-mate.co.uk

or go straight to the download page at:

http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Products&p=index.datsuite

have fun!

Mark

nemo183

Although it's a while since I last looked, East-Tec Eraser had a free 30 day trial. It offers a wide variety of options, and should solve your problem. It's probably available from https://www.zdnet.com

BUT............

Any commercially available program, although seeming to completely erase anything, may still allow the forensic reconstruction of data by equipment that can process traces of data that remain on the edge of any hard disk data track.

So, if it really matters, the ultimate secure option is to buy another hard drive, really quite cheap now, carefully transfer the data you want to keep, and then smash into tiny bits the old hard drive.

Please note, although this is a relatively easy process, you will need to have some knowledge of your machine setup, and you should not attempt it if you don't.

P.S. Although many of the programs mentioned in this thread will prevent access by 99.9% of people, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that some are not exactly what they seem, or sold by companies that may be in the market for a different reason. As time goes by, I suspect the complete elimination of data by software means will become almost impossible. For this reason alone, for particularly sensitive data, it's always worth considering storing it on a USB plug-in. And finally, don't forget that even with a firewall, if someone really wants to know what you are doing, it's not so hard to install a key-stroke recorder that will either store or transmit your every move. But you'd have to be a really bad person for anyone to go to these lenghts.....

matty_c608

The only way a keylogger can submit the data to the person who wants it is the internet (or in person, which will be way harder!). If your firewall is good and configured correctly, then the keylogger will not have access to the internet and cannot submit data!

But I totally agree with you that you cannot erase anything forever!!

matty_c608

And that reminds me to ask - Master File Table - can that be defragmented, reduced, or anything or only by a re-format?

You can use Diskeeper Professional, and it'll stop the system boot up, defragment the MFT and Registry, then restart the system! It makes a really good improvement and doesn't need to be done reguarly!

Matt.

Fran

matty_c608 wrote:

The best way to clear your drive is to smash it into pieces with a hammer, and melt it LOL

:rotfl: I quite often feel like "clearing my drive"!

nemo183

matty_c608 wrote:

The only way a keylogger can submit the data to the person who wants it is the internet (or in person, which will be way harder!). If your firewall is good and configured correctly, then the keylogger will not have access to the internet and cannot submit data!

But I totally agree with you that you cannot erase anything forever!!

Yes, I totally agree. But you are making the assumption of an attempt to install a key logger from the outside world. In the world in which we know live, a more likely approach is the covert installation of a key logger directly onto the PC from an "inside job". This would also allow the alteration of a firewall to allow transmission of this data - especially if it is disguised as file names similar to, say, HP printer update software.

And finally, don't forget that your ISP is now legally required to maintain a log of all of your internet activity.

So, for the most anonomous use of the internet, probably the best solution is a PAYG phone, WAP enabled, bought for cash.

I think that probably the bottom line on this subject is that it's fairly easy to eliminate data that is personally a tad embarrasing. On the other hand, if you are up to no good, then a determined effort by experts is going to reveal almost anything you may have done - and this is probably no bad thing.

nemo183

Reading through this thread, many suggestions have involved the use of "The Usual Suspects" that are well marketed.

There is a school of thought that suggests that it might not be entirely wise to accept the claims these products make as fact.

How much do you really know about these products, and who wrote them, and for what reason?

For example, if company XYZ claims to be able to erase data to DOT standard abc, using a 39 process over writing technology (or whatever), is it not at least a possiblity that the guy clever enough to do this, is probably equally able to at least conceive how his work maybe undone?

And at the end of the day, do any of us really know how these companies are funded? And by whom?

The one thing that they all have in common, however, is that they all have captured the details (email address, postal address - via credit card records) of a whole bunch of people that, for one reason or another, would like to shred some data.

Now that we seem to be heading towards a legal system that would love to detain without trial suspects for 90 days, just think what might happen if this extra time allowed the police to discover that you have used these products? And then, using the rule of 5 (which, if memory serves me, shows that each of us knows someone, who knows someone, and so on for 5 times, that knows the Queen), using the same logic, any of us maybe just 5 or less relationships removed from "knowing" a terrorist? And given 90 days, just what ever other "links" might they find, however remote?

Anyway, since this post has now become a ramble, I'll end it. But given 90 days of extensive investigation, I wonder just how many of us might fall foul, in one way or another, of that level of scrutiny?