Erasing data solely via the recycle bin is not the safest way to dispose of your data - anyone with a bit of know-how can recover it.

AceErase File Shredder is a simple file shredder and privacy tool in one. It works with several powerful file shredding algorithms which the developers claim are up to the Department of Defence standards and stronger. AceErase File Shredder can permanently delete and destroy files so that no trace is left of them on your hard drives indexing system.

What's nice about AceErase File Shredder is that it supports an easy to use drag and drop interface plus it doesn't just erase files permanently but it also erases history of surfing habits, recently opened files etc. AceErase File Shredder can protect you against Identity Theft or someone recovering data from a PC you've either loaned or used before someone else (such as in internet cafes).

AceErase File Shredder is an easy to use and ultra secure way to delete, shred and destroy files as well as remove traces of any recent activity.

Download AceErase File Shredder in Softonic

There are many applications that you can use to delete files permanently, but
DeleteOnClick is probably the easiest one of them all.

This program has no interface or configuration options. Instead, it comes in the shape of an extra command that's added to the Windows context menu. This means that you can safely delete files simply by right-clicking on them.

The only drawback to DeleteOnClick is that it has no rolling-back option. That is, you'd better be sure that you want to delete that file before clicking on "Yes", because there's no way to recover it. Well, that's what the program is supposed to do, isn't it?

With DeleteOnClick you can erase files permanently from the file's context menu. Easy and quick!

Download DeleteOnClick 2.2.0.14 in Softonic

Did you know that when you delete a file in your computer, you're not actually deleting it? What your system does is marking the spot as free again, so that it can be used again. Of course, this means that those supposedly deleted files could be recovered if you use the appropriate software.

In order to prevent that, you can use a tool like Free Wipe Wizard. This application provides a quick, safer way to delete sensitive information from your computer, making sure they can't be restored by any means.

The program features a very basic interface with your systems's directory structure on the left side, while showing the content of the selected folder on the right pane. Simply select the file you want to get rid of and click on "Delete file". Just one thing: in case you want to delete multiple files, you'll have to do it one by one, as you can't select more than one file simultaneously.

Another drawback, in my opinion, is the total absence of configuration options to tweak the way the program works. You don't even know what algorithms or protocols the program uses.

Free Wipe Wizard lets you erase sensitive files securely in a quick, easy way, but with no configuration options.

Download Free Wipe Wizard in Softonic

Do you know that after you have completely deleted information from your hard drive, it is still there? There are a lot of ways to restore deleted data. Just imagine what could happen if your personal information were used by ill-intentioned people. Yet it is a frequent case that users themselves disclose their private information allowing other people to use their computer, selling or giving their PC as present. After a file has been deleted, the information about it is not erased completely, which allows to restore this file later.

Smart Data Scrubber allows you to wipe completely all the information about the file you were working with, ensuring total confidentiality of your work. You can be sure that after using Smart Data Scrubber no any other software will be able to undelete the files you were working with. Make a present to yourself - 100% of security and confidentiality of your personal data!

Download Smart Data Scrubber 3.4 in Softonic

You may not know that when you delete files from your hard drive, you're not actually deleting them, but just marking that disc space as available again.

This means that using the appropriate tools, anyone could easily recover your deleted files and therefore threaten your privacy. To ensure this doesn't happen the best option is grabbing hold of a tool like Mareew Free Eraser, an application that enables you to safely delete files by overwriting them a few times and thus making them harder, if not impossible to recover.

While the idea behind Mareew is certainly good, I found the program lacks the most basic options. It's great to have such an easy-to-use tool but that doesn't mean it shouldn't include features like the possibility of previewing the files you're about to delete or a delete command being embedded in Windows Explorer's file context menu. Marew Free Eraser doesn't include any settings window where to tweak deleting options.

Mareew offers a safer way to delete confidential data, but lacks many basic features found in other similar applications.

Download Mareew Free Eraser 1.2.6 in Softonic

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive. Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defence and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

Download Eraser 5.86a in Softonic

The world has never been the same since the invention of the shredder. Besides allowing you to safeguard the privacy of your important documents and bank statements, shredders are a great way of spending a Sunday mindlessly destroying bits of paper in a cool way. Like all the best inventions, shredders have now found their way to the computer, and Zilla Data Nuker provides a great way to keep your sensitive data from ever being seen by anyone else.

One of the great things about this particular file shredder is that it shreds using five different file deletion standards, giving you information on the best one to use for the particular file or folder you want to erase. These ultra-effective algorithms will ensure that the data you remove stays removed. Despite its power, Data Nuker is remarkably easy to use and comes with a tabbed, skinable interface that lets you erase files with the minimum of hassle via drag-and-drop functionality.

Download Zilla Data Nuker 3.2.0.1 in Softonic

EZ Wipe gives you the opportunity to permanently remove files from your system in the easiest possible way, being integrated in Windows Explorer. Just right-click on the file or files you want to delete and select the "Ez Wipe" option in the context menu. Easy as pie!

Using some powerful wiping methods like DOD-3pass or DOD-7pass, EZ Wipe will let no chance for data recovery, so you can be sure your files will be deleted permanently. Please notice that you will have to delete files before attempting to delete folders themselves.

Download EZ Wipe 1.5 in Softonic

FileASSASSIN can delete locked malware files on your system. It uses advanced techniques to unload modules, close remote handles, and terminate processes to allow the removal of the file.

Simply download FileASSASSIN, unzip the file, and run the installer. Start FileASSASSIN and select a file by dragging it onto the text area or select it using the (...) button. Next, select a removal method from the list. Finally, click delete and the removal process will commence.

Download FileASSASSIN 1.06 in Softonic

With File Shredder you can remove files from your hard drive without fear they could be recovered. Actually, the "delete" operation in Windows only removes bits of information from files so they appear deleted in OS. It is easy to retrieve those files using specialized file recovery software.

In order to remove, or shred files permanently from your system you have to use a program that is capable of rewriting the files with random series of binary data multiple times. This process is often called shredding. That way, the actuall content of the file has been overwriten and the posibilities to recover such a shredded file are mostly theoretical.

File Shredder has been developed as fast, safe and reliable tool to shredd company files. You can choose between 5 different shredding algorithms, each one gradually stronger than the previous one. It also has integrated Disk Wiper which uses shredding algorithm to wipe unused disk space. More on options of File Shredder check Online Help page.

Download File Shredder 1.20 in Softonic

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server and DOS.
Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License.

The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive.

Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defence and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

Download Eraser 5.82 in Softonic

Empty Temp Folders (emptemp) helps you manage folders that contain temporary files, left over by other applications. It's easy to add any folder and you can empty a folder (or all folders) with one click. Also emptemp will let you list and delete cookies, history files and temporary internet files (this requires MS Internet Explorer version 5+).

Emptemp also has a search function to let you find and delete temporary files outside the normal temp folders. Any program can leave behind temporary files or backup files anywhere on your harddisk. These files have file types like .tmp, .bak, .old and .log. You can add your own file types.

Emptemp also displays the amount of memory the content of the clipboard takes up, and lets you delete it. And it can find broken shortcuts (.lnk files) on your harddisk, so you can delete or fix them.

Download Empty Temp Folders 2.8.3 in Softonic

Hide My Crap! is a simple file/folder hider with the following features:

• Ability to hide an entire folder or any single file
• Unhiding is just as easy, as the Hide My Crap! folder browser can see hidden folders
• Password protection of Hide My Crap! with password hints if you're a retard
• Skinning support for when I release the Crapsoft Skinner
• For added stealth, does not put an entry in the Add/Remove Programs list
• Updater included

Download Hide My Crap! 1.21 in Softonic

Simple File Shredder is a utility that securely deletes your files so they can't be restored using recovery software.

When you delete a file using the conventional Windows delete method, the file is not actually destroyed. Windows simply acknowledges the file is no longer needed and considers it free space. The deleted file will exist in a recoverable state until it's over-written with other data.

When you use Simple File Shredder to shred a file, the file is over-written with with random bytes before it's deleted. If the file was ever restored using recovery software, it would be worthless. Simple File Shredder can also shred free space on multiple drives to securely remove files already deleted through Windows.

Simple File Shredder v3 provides a new fully customizable System Shredder. Using the System Shredder, you can easily group browser cache, cookie, and history files to be located and shredded.

Download Simple File Shredder 3.2 in Softonic

From time to time, you get an faulty program uninstallation that leaves certain left-over files that are later impossible to delete because according to your system, they are still in use and cannot be removed. To wipe these files once and for all, use Pocket KillBox. With this program, you can select the file that you would like to delete and once the computer is restarted, it will delete the file before it can be classed as "in use".

Download Pocket KillBox 2.0.0.588 in Softonic

Active@ KillDisk is a hard drive and partition eraser utility that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders.

If you use FDISK, FORMAT utilities, or DELETE standard operating system command for data removal, there is always a chance to recover deleted data (using undelete file or some data recovery software) and use against your will.

Main features:

• Detects and displays information about all partitions, hard disks and floppy drives currently connected to your computer

• Wipes out all floppies and hard disk drives completely by secure overwriting data on physical level using [One Pass Zeros] data destruction method

• Erases partitions, logical drives and even unused disk space

• Erasing report is created and can be saved as a file

• Supports IDE, SATA and SCSI drives

• Supports larger than 128GB hard disks via using LBA(LBA48) mode

• File systems (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, etc) on the drive do not matter, detected physical drive is erased using low-level disk access

• Double confirmation excludes possibility of accidental erasing of data

• Intuitive console interface and command line mode for advanced users

• Works on any system capable of boot from floppy in DOS mode

Download Active Kill Disk 3.1 Build 2151 in Softonic

Sure Delete offers two utilities that work to permanently delete data from a hard drive. When you need to shred sensitive information, Sure Delete ensures that it's done right.

Rather than simply deleting file references on your computer, the program actually destroys the data itself. Sure Delete goes much further than the Windows Recycle Bin, and ultimately makes the data irretrievable.

Best of all, the process is virtually effortless. Sure Delete offers a wizard-style interface that guides you through the process of deleting files. You'll have a clean, secure, evidence free hard drive in a matter of minutes. Sure Delete supports the FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS disk formats.

Download Sure Delete 5.1.1 in Softonic