How do I permanently delete porn files from my computer?

Question

I've being downloading porn files onto my computer, and have deleted them, and also deleted them from the 'recycle bin'. Is this enough or are they still lurking in there. How do I delete them permanently?

Answer 1

It is possible, though fairly unlikely to be able to recover files from a hard drive even if you have used one of the many drive eraser type programmes on the market.

The most effective way to ensure that no-one can read deleted files from a hard drive is to bake it in an oven then smash it to bits with a suitable blunt instrument.

I used a recovery program on an old computer and found three different sets of accounts for a company for the same year!

Answer 2

Well I'll tell you how to permanently destroy a file anyway. It's a really simple process. 1. Write a bunch of garbage to the file. 2. Delete the contents of the file (but not the file) 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 about 100 times 4. Delete the file If you want to be really careful, you can get all the file fragments in one place, and then fill up the empty space with zeroes between shreds. Please note that this doesn't always work for solid state drives. The reason is that some parts of the disk become unuseable after a certain number of writes, and when they die, they keep whatever information was on them when they died. Now that that's out of the way, seriously, no one cares. I'm pretty sure everyone who has ever owned a computer has watched at least one porno. My better half has a subscription.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

All files will remain on your computer in whole or in part after deleting them and emptying the bin. Windows just marks them as "overwritable" and the space they occupy is treated as if there is nothing there, even though there is. Reformatting does little if anything to get rid of them.

So to obscure the files you don't want people, like Homeland Security, to know about, you have to get a program that repeatedly overwrites the data on your hard drive with random, meaningless data, until these files are so overwritten that all traces of their original content is wiped out. These programs will wipe various areas of your hard drive, including free space, without wiping out windows and the stuff you want to save, programs installations, documents, etc.

There are programs you can get from the net, some free, that will do this. But the fact that they have been used is detectable, and so questions about why it was used will arise. Not that it is easy to examine a hard drive in this detail, but law enforcement agencies have or hire forensic computer experts and for them it is easy, because they have the tools and know how.

Answer 5

Delete Porn

Answer 6

It will always be lurking in there, somewhere. The best solution is to totally reboot. It will wipe everything completly out, and start over like it is a new computer. You will have to reload programs , and will lose anything in files, so back them up on a CD first if you need to keep them. Dell offers this service. At a price. For $99.00, and will walk thru the whole process and get all the programs you want back in. And have 30 days to call back for free if you have any remaining problems. You don't have to own a Dell. And the comp will run so much smother, yo would be surprised. 1-888-242-0957 Hope this helps, and please, stay away from the porn!!! It's bad fro your mind!!

Answer 7

The hard drive needs to be reformatted a few times but if you don't want to do that you may want to run disk defragmenter this will move files over the space making it harder to recover the porn as part of the disk space that once held the porn is now used by another file. How thoroughly are you planning on someone looking for porn. I mean if the FBI is investigation you for something you may need to reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows about 4 times to make it completely clean. And even then I would want to destroy the hard drive and buy another.

Answer 8

As long as they are not in the recycle bin any longer, a normal user will not know they were there. A highly skilled specialist *may* be able to find traces that they were there, but it is unlikely.

Be sure that, if you are trying to hide the fact that you were downloading porn, you do not only delete the files, but clear your internet cache as well. The addresses and temporary copies of every file you viewed are stored there. You can clear your cache (and your history) by going to Tools>Internet Options and clicking the "Delete Files" and "Clear History" buttons in Internet Explorer.

Answer 9

You need to make sure that you clean out your cookie folder and temporary file folder. Click on tools, then internet options, and then click on delete files. A friend of mine had a husband who was a complete techno dork and he was able to hunt stuff down in her computer even after that. The only way to be 100% is to take your computer in and tell them to flatline it. Save what you want to keep and when you take it in, they'll kill it, then reinstall all your programs. Good luck!

Answer 10

They are still lurking on your computer. Even if u have delted it from recycle bin and u can no longer see it...the files can be recovered with an Undeleter.I use TuneUp Utilities 2006 which has TuneUP Shredder which permanently deletes files and TuneUP undeleter which allows me to recover any deleted file.
Note: Undeleter Cannot Recover Files Shredded with The TuneUP Shredder, no undeleter can recover them.