How to wipe files completely from laptop?

Borg 386 · 07 Mar 2018

Five hard disk cleaning and erasing tools - TechRepublic

paulyjustin · 07 Mar 2018

Do others agree with what masterchief says here? Neil, i dont use avast anymore as i heard people say just use windows defender

csun · 08 Mar 2018

Masterchiefxx17 said:

If the files are encrypted already, technically deleting them off the hard drive using the standard Windows delete option would suffice. Even if somebody pulled them back up, they would be useless without the encryption key.

To get a secure wipe of deleted files, delete them like you normally would and use a tool like CCleaner or Revo Uninstaller to wipe the free space.

paulyjustin said:

Do others agree with what masterchief says here?

I agree with Masterchief's post and other posts on this thread which offer secure deletion methods.

The factor is which method offers the user confidence. Personally, I would recommend one of the methods listed in Borg's post (#11). Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) is a well-known program.

lx07 · 08 Mar 2018

paulyjustin said:

Do others agree with what masterchief says here?

Yes. If they are encrypted you can just delete them. Never in a billion years will anyone decrypt them without the key.

EDIT however

there are some caveats:
The name of the file, as well as the size, may be recovered.
If the file has been viewed or edited with an application that creates temporary copies of the content (such as Microsoft Office may), those temporary copies may still be available for undeletion on your harddisk.

Axantum Software AB | AxCrypt | Notes on Security

If this matters you may want to zero the free space after (use sdelete or ccleaner as mentioned before), once is enough.

You would be better off (if you have Pro) to use bitlocker as this encrypts the whole disk rather than individual files removing these issues.

Neil Macready · 16 Mar 2018

paulyjustin said:

Do others agree with what masterchief says here? Neil, i dont use avast anymore as i heard people say just use windows defender

PaulyJustin, do you mean for wiping files or for Antivirus protection?

paulyjustin · 16 Mar 2018

I mean i no longer use avast for antivirus. I was told having window defender is enough. I use to have a few antivirus programs like avast, malwarebytes and people say you only need 1 etc.

Neil Macready · 16 Mar 2018

paulyjustin said:

I mean i no longer use avast for antivirus. I was told having window defender is enough. I use to have a few antivirus programs like avast, malwarebytes and people say you only need 1 etc.

Fair enough. Each to their own. I guess it depends on who you ask. I'm sure there would be many other people out there that would say Avast Premier or Avast Internet Security offer superior antivirus protection over Windows Defender.

cereberus · 17 Mar 2018

Neil Macready said:

Fair enough. Each to their own. I guess it depends on who you ask. I'm sure there would be many other people out there that would say Avast Premier or Avast Internet Security offer superior antivirus protection over Windows Defender.

There really is little difference these days. The biggest security risk these days is PEBCAK (Person between chair and keyboard) i.e. poor use of common sense.

paulyjustin · 17 Mar 2018

Okay so for my windows 7 on my the old desktop. Should i just keep avast and malwarebytes? And thus don't enable windows defender? So if i remove these programs, then windows defender would work? I also have microsoft essentials and super antispywhere on this desktop. Which of these programs should i delete and which one to keep? On my primary laptop, i use windows defender only etc.

Neil Macready · 17 Mar 2018

paulyjustin said:

Okay so for my windows 7 on my the old desktop. Should i just keep avast and malwarebytes? And thus don't enable windows defender? So if i remove these programs, then windows defender would work? I also have microsoft essentials and super antispywhere on this desktop. Which of these programs should i delete and which one to keep? On my primary laptop, i use windows defender only etc.

Hi PaulyJustin

In my humble opinion, if it was me, I'd be using Avast and Malwarebytes on your Windows 7 desktop. I'm assuming Microsoft would still support definition updates for Windows Defender and Microsoft Essentials for Windows 7 if you were to just use either of those, but I'm not sure about that?