4 useful softwares to delete the personal data permanently from your PC

You are unaware of your personal information like banking information, credit card numbers, address books, social security number, personal emails, password etc in your PC. If you are aware of it, you will delete all the information using shift+del button. But Delete” is actually just another word for “hidden”, when it comes to your PC.

Most of the Information you delete can be recovered by using special “retrieval” softwares. If you want to completely wipe out personal information, and keep yourself safe, you need to take certain measures, like installing “data shredding” software.

Most shredders use overwrite technology that conforms to DoD 5220-22M specifications (Military-Grade) or better. DoD 5220-22M is the standard set by the U.S. Department of Defense for permanent erasure of digital information.

File Shredder

This one is free for both personal and commercial use and works with Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 Server and Vista. You can choose between 5 different shredding algorithms, each one gradually stronger than the previous one. It also has the capability of wiping unused disk space.

Zilla Nuker

It will securely shred and destroy any sensitive files on your hard drive, including locked files and previously deleted ones. It works with Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, NT 3.x, NT 4.x, and 2000. Highlights include: different shredding modes (ex. Quick Mode), scheduler, option to shred whole drives, etc.

Evidence Nuker

Evidence Nuker. “Permanently Delete Everything You Want Erased”. You can choose which areas get “nuked”, and leave others alone. Options include:

• Address Bar History
• Browser Cache
• Visited Sites History
• Cookies
• Autocomplete Data
• Documents History
• Recycle Bin
• Run History
• Search / Find Menu history
• Windows Temp folder
• Error Checking Temp
• Click History
• Clipboard
• Media player history
• and more …

And, as you can see below, you have 4 shredding level options to choose from:

While it is recommended that you select at least Level 2, I normally use Level 4. Even at this “slowest” level, it only takes a few seconds. Evidence Nuker is compatible with Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP.

CBL Data Shredder

CBL Data Shredder was profiled in PCMag and looks like a good choice too.

It’s specifically designed to meet government data erasure standards in the US, Canada, Germany and the UK. The CBL Data Shredder uses so called the multiple-pass Gutmann method, which repeatedly overwrites the data with different bit patterns until it’s completely unrecoverable.

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