The Watcher

You're welcome, no problem. Thanks for the info. I'm really concerned about the safety of any tool that can permanently remove data. Ever since a registry cleaner caused me to have to reinstall Windows, I've been real leery about any software that is supposed to cleanup and "fix" my computer by deleting things. I know much better now, and now I know what is safe to delete, and that the registry is better left alone. I guess it's better to cluttered registry (and hard drive) than to destroy my computer in an attempt to clean it up. Thank again for the help. I'm still scared of Eraser though.

No, you're cool. You didn't do anything wrong. No worries, Augeas. But on the topic of Thumbs.db files -- I was playing around with Revo Uninstaller, and I found out that the "Junk Files Cleaner" tool will bring up the Thumbs.db files. So no more need to do it the old way by hand. I'm having a problem a little like Novis' actually. CCleaner is showing up Opera browser in the Applications tab like I have it, but I don't have it anymore. So I went looking through my computer files and registry looking for leftovers of Opera, with software and by hand, and I can't find anything. So I know what it's like not being able to find something. I even thought of installing Opera and then searching the registry just to find out where it installs itself. Now I'm starting to wonder if it's some kind of "false positive", and this MIGHT be Novis' problem as well. Yeah, I would love to finally know what's up with Novis' file, too. Rgds.

Hi JDPower. I don't know how Revo's Evidence Remover compares to what Eraser does. I've never used Eraser, so I don't know, but I've seen it mentioned and recommended a lot, so it must be a pretty good program. You can read about Revo's Evidence Remover here, if you're interested: http://www.revouninstaller.com/evidence_re...elete_wipe.html Hope that link is useful to you. What about Eraser's free space wipe? Is it safe and effective? Thanks, JDPower. *Some helpful reading: File Deletion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_deletion Undeletion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undeletion Data Remanence (data that remains after deletion): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_remanence

Hi Augeas. I'll be honest with ya, Augeas; I don't know the answer to Novis1's problem, or what goes on in those mysterious Thumbs.db files. I could be wrong, and that's OK. I'm no expert. I do know that, so far, going the route of traditional file deletion has not worked, and Novis1 is still seeing the image of what they want to delete in Recuva's preview box. I figure Recuva has got to be getting the information from somewhere, so this is where I came up with the thumbnail cache suggestion. Right or wrong, for some reason, I keep thinking the picture is in a cache somewhere. With all the different caches on a computer, and within Windows, there are so many places this picture could be hiding. This thing could be anywhere! Basically: Recuva is getting the information from somewhere, traditional deleting isn't working, and I'm trying to come up with ideas of other things to try. It's totally OK if people disagree with me, or think I'm wrong. I just want everyone to know why I'm suggesting these things, and that my main goal in the end is to be helpful. So that's my side of the story. Rgds to you as well, Augeas. *Some helpful reading: File Deletion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_deletion Undeletion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undeletion Data Remanence (data that remains after deletion): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_remanence

Hey Novis1, I think I might finally have an answer for you. -It's a FREE program called, "Revo Uninstaller". ( http://www.revouninstaller.com ) After you open up Revo Uninstaller, click on the "Tools" icon at the top. That will open up the "Optimization" box. At the bottom of Optimizations, click on "Tracks Cleaner". Now, click on the white down-arrow that's underneath "Evidence Remover". Finally, click on "Unrecoverable Delete". Once you're in there, click the "Add files to be deleted" button. You can browse to find the file (in your case, the picture) that you want to delete, or if you know the location of the file, you can of course just enter that information. When you're done, just click "DELETE FOREVER", and that should take care of it. If you don't know the location of the file(s), or if you want to wipe previously deleted data, you can use the Evidence Remover tool in Revo that I mentioned earlier. It's really easy to use, so I'll spare you the directions. WARNING: There is always the potential of deleting things that you want to keep with this sort of tool, SO USE WITH CAUTION. -While I was writing this, something popped into my head. Maybe what you're seeing in Recuva is just the thumbnail of the picture that you want to delete, and NOT the actual picture itself. This might explain how Recuva is showing a picture that you have deleted. So, if the above steps don't help, you can try clearing Windows thumbnail cache in order to delete the file. Here's a site with the instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-the-Thumbnail-Cache-in-Windows I want to add a couple of things to their instructions though: 1) If you're using Windows XP, and you use Search, you'll need to check the box for "Search hidden files and folders" in the "More advanced options" drop-down menu. If you did everything right, you should find a lot of files named "Thumbs.db". 2) Instead of using "Select All" and "Delete" for removing the files, I would make a new folder on the Desktop, put all the files in the new folder, and then delete the folder using Revo's Unrecoverable Delete tool. -Well... that's all for now. I REALLY hope this helps, and you can finally put your mind at ease. Good luck with everything!

Hi. I brought up the virtual memory as a possible explanation as to why they could keep recovering the picture, and why deleting wasn't getting rid of it. From messing around with my computer, it seems like the data in the virtual memory plays by different rules than the data in the rest of the hard drive. I don't know how Recuva works either lol. I was just throwing it out there. Yeah... I guess getting rid of Recuva would be the simplest way to prevent file recovery. I honestly never thought of that as a solution lol. D'oh! Thank you for the help and the information on defragging. I've done some research on secure file deletion, and I've never come across any mention of defragging. I'm no expert, and so I've been left to wonder if defragging overwrites files or not hardware. This is actually why I'm interested in a program like Recuva. I thought running something like Recuva before and after a defrag would be a way to see it's effects on data, and see if any overwriting has occurred. It's not super important to me whether it does or not , it's just something I'm curious about. Anyway, thanks for your help.

Here goes nuttin'... Forget multiple deletions. The only ways to destroy data is by overwriting, and physical hard drive destruction. Unless you want to remove your hard drive and toss it in a wood chipper, I would suggest overwriting, and there is software out there that can do that. I don't know if it will work, but you could see if defragging your hard drive overwrites the deleted file(s). The defrag software might see your deleted files as empty space and fill it up with relocated data. Also, I haven't read any suggestions in here about your picture maybe being in the pagefile/virtual memory. If it's in there, then that will be fairly easy to get rid of. In the registry you can enable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown", or you can disable, and then re-enable the virtual memory to reset it, or you can do both. The second option easier because it doesn't require searching the registry. If you're interested in doing either one, instructions are on the internet. To your problem specifically -- Your goal is to keep your son from seeing a picture. If all else fails, maybe you could try putting the picture into a folder, and then password protecting it. Or, you could lock your computer in such a way that it could only be used with your permission. Or maybe... you shouldn't worry in the first place. I mean... is the picture really that bad? If it's nudity we're talking about, then you might as well forget it. It's human nature to look at that stuff, and like it or not, you'll NEVER be able to control that. If someone wants to look at nude pictures bad enough, they'll find a way to do it. Personally, I think the gruesome images in movies ("Saw"), TV shows ("C.S.I."), the news (war coverage), and real life (seeing acts of violence) are FAR worse and damaging to children than "pictures,women" will ever be. But... that's a whole other can of worms. Hope that helps. Best Regards, --The Watcher

Here goes nuttin'... First, I'm new here. Second, I want to address novis1's problem of wanting to permanently erase a picture, but also permanent file deletion in general. Forget multiple deletions. The only ways to destroy data is by overwriting, and physical hard drive destruction. Unless you want to remove your hard drive and toss it in a wood chipper, I would suggest overwriting, and there is software out there that can do that. I haven't read any suggestions in here about novis1's picture maybe being in the pagefile/virtual memory. If it's in there, then that will be fairly easy to get rid of. In the registry you can enable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown", or you can disable, and then re-enable the virtual memory to reset it, or you can do both. The second option easier because it doesn't require searching the registry. If you're interested in doing either one, instructions are on the internet. Ok, now here's a question that I have: Does defragging overwrite the space where deleted files used to be? I would think it does. I figure the defragging software sees the space where something used to be, and just sees it as open space, and then puts something in there. If that is how defragging software works, then I would think defragging would be a way to overwrite a file, and permanently erase it. BUT, then again, all software is a little different. Some programs will "wipe" the empty spaces on a hard drive. So anyway, that's my contribution to the discussion. I hope I've been of some kind of help to someone. Best Regards, --The Watcher