Making sure deleted 4ever

jutnm

jutnm

Active Member
i know how to delete a program from ur computer by going to

my computer> uninstal/change program> deleting w/e file u want

but does it really delete the program u selected completely?? like are there still partial fragments of the file still on the computer. if there is how do u delete all the whole file completely ??:P
 
One freeware raved about for cleaning up leftovers on a drive is called CCleaner found at http://www.ccleaner.com/ That will also clean out all of the IE history and offline content if left checked in the options.

For a good and reliable registry cleaner that opens to a main window first to see the main reg keys for anything you have installed allowing those to be removed by checking them off and clicking the remove button RegCleaner has done the job here for some time on any version of Windows. It includes an automatic registry cleanup option in the tools menu. http://www.dewassoc.com/support/useful/regcleaner.htm

Once the registry values are removed and a fresh boot of Windows any remaining files/folders can be manually deleted when found. First you want to make sure no part of the former program is still being loaded.
 
When you delete a file it is often recoverable by using "undelete" utilities. It is (theoretically) recoverable until the physical space that the deleted file occupied on the HD is written over. There are even methods that use probability algorithms to recreate the file after multiple rewrite-overs.

A program like Restoration can often recover deleted files. It can also "permanently" erase the deleted files. I use quotations because while the files appear to now be gone under Restoration, another program with a more powerful recovery set may be able to still recover them.

There are many data recovery programs (CIA Unerase, Restoration, Encase, R-Tools, Undelete, etc...) and from what I've played around with them, some find things that others cannot.

Honestly (though impractically), to ensure that a file is completely gone throw the HD on the ground as hard as you can about a dozen time, crush it in a hydraulic press, then toss it into an active coal seam. Aside from complete destruction files can possibly and theoretically be recovered. :D

EDIT: Though, now that I've ranted on about this, I see I may have misunderstood the question. Oh well.
 
Last edited:
There are ways to wipe a drive completely where no data recovery programs will work. But the main question was how to remove anything leftover after a program is removed. The one problem that can come up is deleting the files and folders left in the "DocumentsandSettings>user name>Application Data" area where you can run into the access denied when trying to manually delete something there. With Vista you can't even get in there but have to go into the new "users" directory. The other is now an archive off limits.
 
PC eye said:
There are ways to wipe a drive completely where no data recovery programs will work. But the main question was how to remove anything leftover after a program is removed. The one problem that can come up is deleting the files and folders left in the "DocumentsandSettings>user name>Application Data" area where you can run into the access denied when trying to manually delete something there. With Vista you can't even get in there but have to go into the new "users" directory. The other is now an archive off limits.
Click to expand...

ic gotcha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top