Find out how to permanently delete files from Windows 10 using three free programs that can be downloaded from the Internet
Deleting a file on a computer running Windows 10 isn’t enough to make it disappear from your hard drive, and if you value your privacy this could be a problem for you. In fact, if your PC is stolen or lost, there’s a good chance that whoever got hold of it will be able to read at least some of the files you thought you had destroyed.
When you delete a file on Windows 10, in fact, you’re doing nothing more than moving it to the recycle bin. Even if you empty the recycle bin, you’re not deleting it completely; you’re really just hiding it from view. The actual deletion of the file only happens if other data is written to the same portion of the disk where that file used to be. Before then, every file on your hard drive is recoverable, although you may need a paid professional data recovery service to find it and bring it back to life. If, on the other hand, you need to permanently and securely destroy your files on Windows 10, then you need to use a third-party app. Here are three of them that are effective and work.
Eraser
Eraser is a pretty flexible software: it can destroy a single file, a folder or an entire disk forever. It integrates perfectly with Windows Explorer, adding an item to the menu that opens when you right-click on a file (or folder or disk). To destroy a file you must select it and choose Erase from the menu, then confirm that you want to do so. That’s it: goodbye file. Or you can use Eraser by setting up automated tasks, for example to delete a certain folder every few minutes.
File Shredder
A second utility to safely delete your files on Windows 10 is File Shredder. You can use it as a standalone application or directly from Explorer, again via right-clicking on files. The interesting thing about this application is that it also lets you choose the algorithm through which file deletions are handled. If you have very advanced security needs, then File Shredder is probably the program for you.
Freeraser
Freeraser is the third software we recommend for permanently deleting your files on Windows 10. In addition to the two methods of operation already seen on the other utilities (from within the application or from within explorer), Freeraser also has a third very convenient one: it creates on the desktop an icon very similar to the recycle bin and allows you to drag the files you want to destroy onto it. Basically you can safely delete files via drag and drop. Very convenient.