Usually there comes a point in your device lifetime where you will decide that you have all the relevant files that you need and all of them safely backed up and you need to delete some information off your computer.  Simple as it might seem, deleting a file from a computer is not that easy or is not just emptying the Recycle Bin as the deleted record can be restored by anyone with the proper tools and resources.

So what does one have to do to make sure that someone who shouldn’t does not access his or her deleted information? There are different secure deletion tools available to permanently erase files through a process better known as wiping.  Wiping information off your hard drive or storage media is about effectively displacing or overwriting your sensitive information. Below we discuss how to use a secure deletion tool called ‘CCleaner’. It can be accessed and downloaded from here: https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Securely deleting information in Windows using CCleaner

CCleaner

The process of installation CCleaner is quite simple just follow the steps below:

Step 1:   Double click the CCleaner executable file to begin the installation process. In some cases, the Operating System Warning dialog box may appear. If it does, Select YES to start the CCleaner installation.

Step 2. Click Next to initiate the Install Options.

Step 3. In order to disable the installation of Google Chrome DO NOT Click  the Install Google Chrome as my default browser option. Click Next.

Step 4. Click Install to initiate the Installing screen, displaying its installation progress status bar.

Step 5. Click Finish to complete installing CCleaner and activate the CCleaner console.

In order to have the maximum and effective results from CCleaner you will need to configure it further before using it fully by following the below steps:

Step 6. Select  Options.

Step 7. Click Settings which is located on the top of the Options pane.

Step 8. Note that on the section Secure Deletion, the default option is Normal file deletion (Faster). Select the Secure file deletion (Slower) option, this will also enable the drop-down list below.

Step 9. Expand the Secure file deletion (Slower) drop-down list and Select the Advanced Overwrite (3 passes) item.

The above modifications that you have done to CCleaner is very critical as it reduces the recoverability of that document, file or folder, but increases the length of time required by the wiping process.