If you delete your files on your computer, the actual data will still be on the disk. The open source program Eraser ensures that this data is permanently erased and therefore leaves no traces behind.
We're all used to the convenience of the Recycle Bin in Windows: it guarantees that we can recover files that we accidentally dragged to the Recycle Bin if we haven't already emptied the Recycle Bin. Less well known is that even after that you can get the files back with specialized undelete tools. If you delete a file, then only the reference to this file in the parent folder will be deleted. The associated data blocks are marked as unused by Windows, but the actual data in these blocks remains untouched. At least, until they are overwritten by new files. So if you knew all your files before you sell your hard drive, the buyer can still conjure up a lot of your private information with the right tools.
The open source program Eraser offers a solution for this: it adds an extra submenu to the context menu in Windows Explorer. In the right-click menu, choose the option Eraser / Erase while you have selected one or more files or folders, then they are really deleted in a safe way. Your data will be overwritten with random data and therefore can no longer be retrieved by undelete tools. You can just as easily delete the contents of the recycle bin permanently by right-clicking on the icon and then Eraser / Erase to choose. The context menu also offers the option Erase on Restart so that the erasure is not done until you restart Windows.
Periodically erase your tracks
Furthermore, you can also set Eraser to periodically erase certain files, the unused disk space or the trash. If you want, you can also choose in the settings of Eraser how your data is overwritten. Among the thirteen options on offer are Peter Gutmann's acclaimed algorithms, as well as algorithms used by the US government to permanently erase classified documents. So if you don't trust Eraser to make the right choice by default, you can still delve into scientific publications about the different algorithms and let Eraser use the one you trust the most.
Let Eraser cover your tracks automatically.
Eraser 6.0.9.2343
Freeware
Language Dutch
Download 8.7MB
OS Windows XP/Vista/7
System requirements Unknown
Judgment 8/10
Pros
Supports a lot
erasure algorithms
Permanent erase jobs can be automated
Negatives
Dutch translation a bit sloppy
Interface not so clear
Safety
None of the approximately 40 virus scanners saw anything suspicious in the installation file. To the best of our knowledge at the time of publication, the installation file is safe to download. See the full VirusTotal.com detection report for more details. If a new version of the software is now available, you can always rescan the file yourself via VirusTotal.com.
