Some of us have to handle some sensitive data in our daily work lives. For example, accountants have to go through a lot of personal and financial information of their clients on their computers. These files should be deleted after the tax filing work of these clients have been completed. But deleting these files using the Windows File Explorer is not enough. This is because the deleted files can easily be recovered later using a file recovery software such as Recuva.
In order to prevent the file recovery by someone at a later time, we can securely erase the files instead of deleting them using the Windows File Explorer. For securely erasing the sensitive files, we can use a tool called File Shredder which is a part of the WinZip System Utilities Suite.
WinZip File Shredder ensures that the deleted files can never be recovered. It uses the well known method of overwriting the file contents before actually deleting it. Depending on the methods selected, it can overwrite the file contents one or multiple times. Some methods overwrite the file contents with random data and some with just zeroes or ones.
In the WinZip File Shredder window, we can simply drag-n-drop files on the list. Alternatively, we can also click on the “Add Files” or “Add Folders” button to add files or folders to the list. Now all you have to do is click on the “Erase Selected” button. This will initiate the sequence of deleting the files using the file shredder.
This tool should not be used carelessly. Once you delete a file using File Shredder, it is gone forever. It cannot be recovered anymore. Even if you use powerful data recovery tools like Recuva, it becomes impossible to recover files after this.
You can download WinZip System Utilities Suite from https://systemtools.winzip.com/.