Use Heidi Eraser to permanently delete confidential files and folders

July 5, 2008 in Specific Computer Information
Tags: 95, 98, deletion, erase, eraser, file, gpl, heidi, heidi eraser, index.dat, LinkedIn, me, open source, overwrite, shred, vista, windows, xp

Who should read this: Readers should be people concerned with data theft or with computer theft.  This article will help you if you don’t know what happens to a file when you press delete.

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Only the pointer is removed when you delete a file from your computer.  The actual data still remains on your hard disk drive until it is written over with new information. Heidi Eraser permanently deletes or “erases” the file pointer and “erases” the actual data contained on the disk drive.  Heidi Eraser accomplishes this by overwriting the area on the disk drive where the deleted files physically reside.  The files are overwritten multiple times with random unusable data patterns making recovery of the original data nearly impossible, the more overwrites the harder it gets to recover anything usable.  Overwriting sensitive data seven times is good enough for most people.

Heidi Eraser works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP (32/64), Vista (32/64), Windows Server 2003 and DOS.  It works with any disk drive including IDE, SCSI and RAID, and CD-RW’s. This free program also supports FAT32 and NTFS Files Systems.

Heidi Eraser will “erase” the free space on your disk drives.  This includes areas with previously deleted data that are not being currently referenced by any pointers.  This utility can even properly “erase” the leftover data being held by the write cache feature in Microsoft Windows.

Heidi Eraser can also be used to securely delete your INDEX.DAT file.  INDEX.DAT is a file that tracks the websites you visit manually when you type the websites directly into the address bar.  INDEX.DAT is also used to keep track of what search terms are used with Google and who you e-mail through Yahoo. This file is not cleared or removed when you clear the History in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Furthermore it cannot be deleted while modern versions of Microsoft Windows are running. Heidi Eraser can securely clear this file for you during a system reboot.

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Links

• Heidi Eraser – Web Site
  
• Super Winspy – Home Page
  • View your INDEX.DAT file with Super Winspy.