[Deleting "Thunderbird emails.zip"]

As far as I can guess, the filename is shown to indicate that there are emails to recover. The file is only created when you chose to recover the emails. If you no longer have Thunderbird then perhaps you have some old TB folders hanging around that causes Recuva to show this zip file. Have a look at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird to find any old folders.

 

Thanks! So that's what's going on - it finds the e-mails in Thunderbird's own hidden folder, and reassembles them. Meaning that they were never deleted in the first place, just hidden.

[Deleting "Thunderbird emails.zip"]

I understand that the file is a 'virtual' file and is only created when you chose to recover the emails. It can't be deleted by Recuva. You could try compacting your email folders to get rid of deleted emails, and then wipe free space if you're really paranoid.

 

I don't see the option to not recover deleted emails.

CCleaner doesn't seem to get rid of this file even after wiping free space using the Gutmann method. Also, I deleted Thunderbird some time ago, so I can't compact email folders since I don't have any.

There any other way to get rid of or prevent this file Recuva keeps creating?

[Deleting "Thunderbird emails.zip"]

When I look at all recoverable files, and then wipe them out with the Gutmann method, I always find "Thunderbird emails.zip", which is always recoverable. But it won't let me delete it.

 

I understand that the ability to recover old emails is a feature of Recuva, which will definitely help many people, but I'd like the option to securely delete that file as well. Is there a way to do it? Is there another program that will let me do it?

[Permanent erase filename entires from folders for deleted files]

These file names can be removed from the MFT fairly easily.

I use eraser from http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ Open my computer right click C:\ and choose erase unused space. In options choose directory entries and voila after a couple of minutes filenames are gone and replaced with random data names.

See attached pic

 

I don't see the "directory entries" setting. Where is it? I have the latest current version of Eraser.