Deletor

Because they are not actually erased from the disk, deleted files can be recovered with the right utility, which is an excellent solution if you accidentally delete something. However, in some situations, the possibility of recovering deleted files can be a privacy risk. Fortunately, you can also find utilities that are specialized in erasing data permanently. A good example is Deletor, which places a wide range of shredding options at your disposal. The software also serves as a disk cleanup utility, so you can permanently erase traces of your activity or other information which shouldn't fall in the wrong hands.

Deletor is free to try for a limited period of time, but without any functionality restrictions. It comes in a small package and it can be installed in a few seconds, on all popular Windows platforms. The hardware requirements are modest and there is no need to install any prerequisite tools or services.

The way Deletor works is quite simple. All you have to do is add one or more folders to a list, on a compact user interface and tell the software what to do with the contents of those folders, by clicking a series of check boxes, making selections in drop-down menus or by adding name filters. You can set it to look for specific file types, with different characteristics.

Once your folders are added to the list, you can choose to include or ignore sub-folders and empty ones and set up filters, to erase files with certain attributes, like "Read Only", or "Archive". You can also target files that were created in a time period of your choice or files with a size within a certain range. By default, Deletor is set to erase temp files, but you can aim it at other files types, by simply adding the corresponding extensions to a list.

If you are satisfied with your settings, you can choose to simply delete these files or to shred them, which makes it impossible to recover the data. Also, the software lets you a standard shredding protocol or the DoD 5220.22-M method. If you want to make sure that Deletor shreds the correct data, you can preview the operation first. This way, you will know exactly what files will be erased.

If you erase your files with Deletor, you can make sure that no recovery application will be able to salvage the information.