A Clean Slate.Q I understand that deleted files stay stored somewhere on your hard drive. So, how can I make sure files are permanently deleted from my PC? --B. Farqua Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County, Alabama. Huntsville is the largest city in northern Alabama in a region of a half-million people, with the city proper having 168,132 residents (2006 estimate). a Even after you delete a file and empty your trash or recycle bin Starting with Windows 95, a simulated garbage can used for deleting files and folders. The recycle bin keeps the files intact in case the user wants to restore them, but can be "emptied" from time to time to save disk space. , the data remains on your hard drive until another piece of data overwrites it. The only safe way to delete a computer file is to erase it and overwrite (1) A data entry mode that writes over existing characters on screen when new characters are typed in. Contrast with insert mode. (2) To record new data on top of existing data such as when a disk record or file is updated. it with new data several times so that no traces survive. Many third-party programs (for both Mac and PO users) can overwrite files and perform other functions to optimize the data on your hard disk. McAfee (www. mcafee.com), popular for its antivirus programs, offers UnInstaller Software that helps uninstall applications from a computer. See uninstall. (operating system) uninstaller - A utility program to remove another application program from a computer's disks. Deluxe. The program enables you to get rid of Internet cache files, temp files, duplicate and junk files, it costs $39.95. UnInstaller lets you identify the amount of disk space you want free and then recommends which files to delete. You will need at least 10MB of free, hard disk space and 8 MB of RAM for Windows and 16 MB for NT. There's also Norton CleanSweep 2000 from Symantec (www.symantec.com) and BCWipe for Windows (www.jetico.com), Mac users can use Pretty Good Privacy (www.pgpi.org) or the Burn utility from (www.macdownload.com.). Obviously, having data only partially deleted is of no consequence to anyone who is trying to get rid of amorous am·o·rous adj. 1. Strongly attracted or disposed to love, especially sexual love. 2. Indicative of love or sexual desire: an amorous glance. 3. e-mail, for example. But any PC user who is trying to purge his or her system of confidential data will want to completely overwrite the sectors on the hard drive where the data resides. Mail your technology-related questions to Cyberwise at BLACK ENTERPRISE, 130 Fifth Ave., New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10011, or send an e-mail to dingled@blackenterprise.com. |
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