Feb 2, 2011
Junk files and folders needs to be deleted from time to time on a Windows PC. If the user deletes the files/folders by pressing Delete command, then files and folders are transferred to Recycle Bin and not deleted permanently. These files and folders can be Undeleted or Restored back to the PC from the Recycle bin by selecting these files or folders from Recycle bin and then using Restore feature in the Recycle bin.
After selecting the junk/not needed files and folders, if the Windows computer user presses Shift+Delete (press Delete key after keeping the Shift key presses) the files and folders are deleted and not available in Recycle bin also. Can these files and folders deleted by Shift+Delete be restored back? Yes!
There are various free software that can restore files and folders deleted by Shift+Delete. A simple google search for
Shift+Delete files restore freeware
would list some of the no cost programs that will undelete the files and folders deleted by Shift+Delete.
The question relevant to the post is how to delete files and folders permanently so that they cannot be restored back at all. One case where this would absolutely be needed would be of a work from home person who sells his/her old PC because he/she bought a new faster PC. As the buyer wants OS to be there on the sold PC, the seller has to only delete his/her personal files/folders.
If confidential files and folders are left in a state where they can be restored back by someone else and seen then you can easily imagine the risks involved. No one would ever want this to happen, even format command that does high level format does not delete data permanently.
To delete files and folders permanently to a state that they cannot be restored back again, a freeware tool is: CyberShredder.
It can be downloaded from:
To test it, I made some test files and folders on my Windows Vista Business PC, deleted them by dragging them to CyberShredder and then tried recovering through the Free files and folders restore tools but couldn’t do so.
Free Undelete tools that I tried for recovering the files and folders deleted by the CyberShredder were:- Recuva File Recovery at:
The direct download link:
- Brain Kato File recovery downloaded from:
(Was checked in Administrator mode as it didn’t work in normal user mode. Found thousands of files and folders in seconds that could be restored by it.)
- Pandora Free File recovery program downloaded from:
(Read the description and review of the software and then click on Download Now)
- Tokiwa Free DataRecovery program from:
http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/DataRecovery_EN.zip
(Used full scan to search the deleted files and folders, the scanning took a lot of time – few hours)
(Used full scan to search the deleted files and folders, the scanning took a lot of time – few hours)
Well, I installed these above mentioned four data recovery programs one by one and did the respective testing for data recovery after deleting with CyberShredder. None of these four free data recovery programs could recover any of the data deleted by CyberShredder. Thus, according to my testing, files and folders deleted by free program CyberShredder cannot be recovered.
Caution: Use CyberShredder with utmost care as data deleted once by CyberShredder cannot be recovered. The best would be to initially make some dummy files and folders yourself for having hands on of this tool. In Cyber Shredder, check Confirm File Deletion in Settings to get a warning before permanent deletion of files and folders dragged in CyberShredder. Once you are familiar with using CyberShredder, have backed up your data and then verified its integrity, then go ahead with permanent deletion of files and folders with CyberShredder.
In addition to my testing, I also researched on the Net and found that files/folders deleted using CyberShredder cannot be undeleted using any of the commercial data recovery tools as CyberShredder uses unbreakable writing algorithm for deleting data that makes recovery impossible.
I am sure that this post of mine would definitely help some of the computer users to permanently delete files and folders from their PC using CyberShredder – A Free, permanent file and folder delete tool.