When you've emptied your recycle bin are the contents gone from your PC, or still in the computer somewhere?

Answer 1

Technically--the contents of the file are still there. Nontechnically--the contents are just hidden from you (and not hidden from a a good file sluth). The answer to this question goes back to the "old" DOS days. The file name may be familypictures.jpg. When you hit Recycle, it actually renames the file to
?amilypictures.jpg. The file actually stays on the computer. What the "?" does is allows DOS (Windows or NTFS)...lets just call it DOS, to use the available space where
?amilypictures.jpg is when DOS feels good and ready to do so. This may be a LONG time from now. So--undeletion programs (undelete) just go onto your disk and looks for the "?" in front of files in your hidden file tree. Finding these, the program just assigns a number...like 1amilypictures.jpg. This makes the file "undeleted" and you can see it once again.
So--the clear and fast answer is NO, the recycle bin does NOT delete files--it just hides the file from you. It does NOT hide it from your next door neigbor kid who comes in and watches your cat--and turns on the computer and looks at the pictures of your pretty girlfriend.

I hope this helps!
((and security conscious folks should REALLY be careful here)) Cause you guys actually store your id numbers on these files dont you? Shame shame.

best way to delete a file...copy the contents of another file OVERWRITING the old data in the file...then save the file (SAVE AS) the same name. Then delete the file...then make a new file with the same name...put some bogus info on it...then overwrite the file with new bogus informaiton...then save it again...then delete the file..............do this over and over 64 times...and you have NORTON file wipe....(it sure is easier to let NORTON do it!) Do it 128 times, and you have government encryption deletion...it is REALLY easier to let norton do it!

Weatherman! (an old DOS dinosaur)

Answer 2

When you delete a file from the recycle bin, the listing in the computer's directory that points to where the file is located is deleted. Your computer no longer knows where the file is located. Its location is then placed into a list of available spaces on your hard drive. The next time a file is saved, it may be placed over the top of the deleted file, wiping out some or all of the old file. Over time, the file will be completed overwritten by new file(s).

This is a short period after a file is deleted in which it may still be possible to find and recover some or all of the file. But it requires special software to do it.

Answer 3

Another person is right - the data is there, just the pointers to the data (in its' various locations) are removed. Remember that doing a delete just changes the info in the pointers - something similar is being done with an empty of the bin..

You can retrieve the data with special [though simple] utilities if you have not written over it [pointers say the locations are available for new data] or that you have not done a defragment of the drive.

There are other utilities that can find the data even after a defrag, IF you have not written over the locations [durning the defrag or with the normal program data saves].

Answer 4

They're still on the hard drive but unknown to Windows. So unless you turn all the data to zeros by using a permanently delete program, or by having other files overwrite the deleted items via Windows, the data will still be accessable through other means on your harddrive.

Answer 5

If you get a program called Quick Clean by McAfee, it has a tool in it that allows you to wipe the disk clean by making several (government standard) clean passes. It works real well, and I don't think anybody will recover something that has been cleaned 7 times. Have Fun!

Answer 6

The files are still in your computer with a character in the first position, usually a question mark or exclamation point. You must defrag your computer (in Accessories) in order to wipe out the file from the space where it is and rearrange the bits and bytes so that the file is no longer retrievable.

But don't tell our government folks this, because we still want to confiscate their computers and find out what they've been up to if they do any thing wrong!

Answer 7

when you empty the recyle bin all teh thing are deleted from the computer there are some softwares available on the net to recover deleted files even if you emptied from recycle bin try download.com they have plenty of software some are free must search much deeper

Answer 8

No, nothing is totally gone from your PC. When you delete something space is made where it once was however a PC expert could stil find it. It when space has been reoccupied that it becomes unreadable

Answer 9

No the information is still there, just the path to them is erased. You need a shredding or wiping utility which overwrites the data to be sure the data is permanently removed

Answer 10

Some are gone and others are in the computer somewhere.