Augeas

I understood that this option applied to temp files, i.e. files in your windows/temp. doc and settings/username/local settings/temp etc., and not to temp internet files. I have this box ticked and all my temp internet files are cleared.

Secure Delete in Recuva overwrites the file with zeros, the file can not then be recovered. Rgds.

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to do here. CC isn't, as you well know, a virus scanner, so do you just want to reduce the amount of data on the suspect drive? Simply knocking off the temp internet files will probably remove the majority of unwanted data, then you could also browse temp files and delete the biggies you find, after you've decided you don't want them. Then scan with your virus software.

It's true that the temp files cleanup facility is not relevant or available on other than your system drive, but you can add files to be deleted (and overwritten if you wish) from another drive by including these in the Include option. Use the Add Folder/Add file button and select the folder/file you want to delete, then click on open, which will add the folder/file to the include list.

I believe so, if the overwrite once option is specified in CC. A simple test will prove me right or wrong.

Recuva is specced to run on Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 and 98. If you use CCleaner with the one pass overwrite option it will render the files it is scheduled to delete unrecoverable with any software. Don't set your browser option to clear temp internet files on close or this will bypass CCleaner. CC has a specified subset of files to clean, so not every deleted file will be caught, but most will be.

Of course, if the file is overwritten by part of another live file, then it can't and shouldn't be securely deleted. What an idiot for not cottoning on to that earlier. Well, it is Sunday and the red plonk is beckoning, so much so that I'm off for a glass or two. Over to you.

Shodan, in case you missed this edit: Aha,,, more testing... seems to overwrite (delete) files marked as excellent, any others, poor, v poor and unrecoverable don't seem to be overwritten. Will test more (but I'm not doing all 10,000 of them). Can you confirm this?

The secure delete option works fine for me on XP Home Ed. A great option, would be greater if we could rename the filename to something less embarrassing too. One thing I have found whilst trying the secure delete is that if you tick several files to be securely deleted, right click and choose Secure Delete Checked, and the process returns 'The following files were not deleted - File resident in the MFT' then although the box says 'x files deleted' only the files prior to the message are deleted: all files ticked after the file in the MFT are not deleted. This might be the problem some are having if they are attempting to delete multiple files. This is annoying. Secure delete worked ok on single files this morning, but now won't delete them for love or money, either singly or in multiple selection. Aha,,, more testing... seems to overwrite (delete) files marked as excellent, any others, poor, v poor and unrecoverable don't seem to be overwritten. Will test more (but I'm not doing all 10,000 of them). Can other users confirm this?

I would strongly recommend that you chose the single overwrite option in CCleaner: recovery is not possible from one overwrite and the size of your files will mean that overwriting, even with one pass, will take some time. Don't be too ambitious, perhaps one at a time until you get some idea of the timescale. As an easy way of deleting odd files I have set up a folder (called Crap) which is named in the include settings in CCleaner. I just drag files and folders I wish to be deleted into this folder, and good old CC cleans it out for me when it's run. You have to remember to run CC in secure delete mode though as the folder is emptied whatever delete option is chosen. Rgds.

Do you mean that the start menu shortcuts have gone? If so just type start menu shortcuts in Google for the answer. You can't 'reverse' anything that CC does. There are ways of retrieving deleted files, but this doesn't seem to be what you are asking. Rgds.

A slight correction - I don't have the box ticked to delete temp files, so that's probably the reason they're still there.

I'm not sure what you actually mean by formatting temp internet files. CC will overwrite these files (if the option is selected) which makes them unrecoverable by any method. One overwrite is sufficient. Formatting, at its most secure, is simply overwriting physical areas of the disk. It was a little tongue in cheek to mention another security method. Temp internet files from an individual's surfing can be overwritten adequately by CC. If you have access to very sensitive data, such as that which seems to be handled so nonchalantly by our leaders, then your PC should be subject to a security procedure which (amongst other things) sees it physically secured at all times, fully password protected, no access by any other person, data encrypted and at the end of its use by you the hard drive removed and physically destroyed. But that isn't what most people will do because they aren't in a position to access such sensitive data. Rgds.

You may well be right. I have the don't delete until 48 hrs box ticked and my ..../me/local settings/temp folder has files going back to my pc setup a year or more ago. I don't have too many so it doesn't bother me. If you're only worried about keeping some files for 48 hrs then why not wait a few days and then clear the temp folder? Cheers.

I don't know why CC is not identifying your old temp files, but why not copy those few files you wish to keep into a new folder, then just run CC to remove the rest? It's always a little flaky to hold files you may wish to keep in a temp folder. Rgds.

It depends. If you don't have the option ticked in your browser to delete temp files at any time, if you have the delete temp internet files ticked in CCleaner, if you use the secure deletion one pass in CC settings, then the temp internet files will be overwritten and not recoverable. The index.data files have info on url's visited. If you use CC to remove them then they will be deleted on PC reboot. However they will not be overwritten by CC no matter what option you have chosen (as CC is not doing the deletion). But the space they occupy will be overwritten in time as you create new files (new temp internet files, for instance). Are there any other traces of your browsing hanging around? Quite possibly, as I don't know what Windows writes in its swap files, logs, etc. They will not be accessible to the casual user. There may be other quirks, such as a file being edited and a shorter version being replaced. Does CC remove the spare part of the cluster if the file is deleted? I doubt it. CC is a home use computer cleaner, perfectly adequate for the vast majority of computer users, and sufficient to remove data from the view of all but the most determined and skilled investigator. If you have been accessing data vital to the security of the realm then I'd put another security method into operation. Rgds.

What size does Recuva say is the deleted file? What file organisation is the hd? Are you sure you have plenty of spare space (not on the external hd!) to recover the file? How much have you written to the hd since the file deletion? Disconnect the hd now until this forum and you have a) recovered the file, or given up.

What version of CC are you using?

Do you mean that CC Analyser produces a report and then starts again? Or that the little green bar at the top of the window makes many passes? If the former then I've never heard of that happening. If the latter, as I rather suspect, it's just taking a long time to analyse, as Rhoney says. Wait until it's finished and then run Clean. If you use CC weekly (say) then you won't get such a large buildup of obsolete files and Analyse will be speedy. Rgds.

First the silly questions. Have you ticked the Tempoary Internet Files box on CCleaner? What version of CC are you running (earlier versions did not overwrite temp internet files).

Hmm, 30 gb is rather a lot to lose. You can't undo what Recuva has done. A run of Recuva will do very little apart from creating a few log files which will of course overwrite something or other. Using Recuva to recover files - 30 gb of them - most certainly will do something. If, as Ron asks, you have recovered these files to the same drive then they will have overwitten 30 gb of what is flagged as free space, which may or may not have been part of the 30 gb you were tying to recover. So in theory you could have had 30 gb of recoverable files, and the first file recovered overwrote the next file to be recovered, and so on to the end of the 30 gb. In practice it's probably partly what has happened. Also every time you boot up or use your PC you will be overwriting files. Windows is always writing something or other, and surfing is ten times as bad. Even posting to this site kills something. Rgds.

I can only think of two reasons why you should 'do' something after running Recuva. The first is that you inadvertently deleted a file and you wish to recover it, and the second is that a file containing sensitive data has been deleted and Recuva shows it as being recoverable. In the first case, try to recover the file as soon as possible, as it will, sooner or later, be overwritten when another new file is created. In the second case you can do very little, but this file too will eventually be overwritten with a new file (so just keep your eye on it). If you wish to do neither of these things then you have to do nothing at all after running Recuva. Files do get created and deleted every time you use your PC. It's normal. Recuva just lets the curious look at them. Rgds.

If you have nothing on your PC that you want to hide from others then set the delete option to Normal File deletion. This is very fast. The deleted files will sooner or later be overwritten anyway as you create new files. If you have files you want to be securely deleted then set the delete option to Simple Overwrite 1 Pass. This overwrites your files with zeros, and is a little slower. There is no point in overwriting files multiple times, it just prolongs the action and ever-so-slightly dimishes the life of your hard drive. No file has ever been recovered in the history of computing, as far as I and zillions of others know, after being overwritten. I'm afraid that if you want an answer to your question then you will have to come back here: it's not too much to ask, is it? Rgds.

I asked because if you were using a multiple overwrite (which is a waste of time) and had a lot of data to delete then it might seem that CC is running forever. Assuming that you don't have hundreds of gbs to delete then I've no answer, except wait for the imminent new release. I usually delete around 10 to 20 gb at a time, and if I run Analyze first (which I don't do very often) it does take a modest time, about 1-2 seconds a gig. The delete however is very fast. So if you're just doing deletes then some time will be taken up with the analytical stage which you won't see. Rgds.

How did you delete the files? The recycler will rename deleted files so you will have to search on deletion time or size, etc. You can scan quickly with Recuva watching the preview box if the deleted files are pics. If you used CCleaner to overwrite your files then that remanes them too. In this case they will, and can, never be recovered. Rgds.