[malachi]

i have some documents that i deleted. but when i do a normal search for them they come up. now you cannot open them but you can put it on ex-large icons and see what they are. is there a way so that they do not show up in the search window.

also i am on windows XP

and the documents are not in the folder they say they are in.

 

[scoliosis]

Is it in the Recycle Bin?

 

[steadly2004]

Is it in the Recycle Bin?

hhaha

 

[GTSGUY2003]

You might be seeing the shortcuts in your "recent" folder.
Check C:\Documents & Settings\USERNAME\Recent
(That's a hidden folder, so you might need to enable "Display Hidden Files & Folders")

 

[malachi]

Is it in the Recycle Bin?

lol no its not the recycle bin.


they are gone until i do a search. go to search and do a random search for documents and then they show up.

 

[HIJACKER]

They show up WHERE. What is the path?

 

[Glenn]

lol no its not the recycle bin.


they are gone until i do a search. go to search and do a random search for documents and then they show up.

Re-index your windows search.

This link might help: How to create and configure a catalog for indexing

 

[Infin1ty]

It is actually very difficult to completely delete things off of a windows PC. Even after dumping the recycle bin, the files go into a secondary recycle bin which is very well hidden in the windows files. This is why the FBI can take your computer and find just about anything you've ever had on your PC.

You could always reformat :twothumb:

 

[steadly2004]

It is actually very difficult to completely delete things off of a windows PC. Even after dumping the recycle bin, the files go into a secondary recycle bin which is very well hidden in the windows files. This is why the FBI can take your computer and find just about anything you've ever had on your PC.

You could always reformat :twothumb:

You can actually recover info after re-formatting. It will be all messed up, but some stuff is recoverable. I know this is possible, after deleting my buddy's wedding photos off an SD chip. I downloaded some recovery software, and got back 90% of the photos, the other 10% were all scrambled and messed up.

I've heard its like up to 7 layers deep of re-formatting before 100% of the info is unrecoverable. But, unless you're a terrorist/hacker you're probably good after one.

And, where are the paths where the file shows up?

 

[04gsNA]

what are you trying to delete, there are programs which cxan help you delete certain items totally!!

 

[malachi]

just certian documents. the way i delete thing is right click and hold shift while i press delete. it skips the recycle bin.

they are just in a random folder i created and then deleted. the folder is empty but when i do a search is says its there.

ill try that site you said glenn.

thanks guys.

 

[Bitter]

try eraser multi pass deletion tool, works pretty well and is pretty damned secure. writes and rewrites over the file with patterns of data leaving behind pretty much nothing but random data.

 

[HIJACKER]

but you can put it on ex-large icons and see what they are..

just certian documents..

what are you trying to delete

I'm going to take a WILD guess and say its downloaded porn that you want to erase of a family PC that you're using.

Anyhow, the methods suggested above is your best option. You'd have to use 3rd party software to do a REAL good job of it. The only way you can bypass data recovery from a Forensics standpoint, is by swiping the drive over an electromagnetic and starting over.

Fact is, when data is "deleted", it's not actually deleted. It's more-so scrambled. The best way to delete an item is to overwrite that same item.

 

[scoliosis]

In Windows, formatting or deleting a file merely removes the FAT index in FAT16/32 filesystem and MFT in NTFS systems. It does not actually remove the files. In UNIX/Linux, it just removes all traces of the inode. The file content itself is left orphaned on the disk. You can recover them fairly easily if it has not been overwritten. When I sell my used HDD, I always boot into a Linux liveCD then "dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hda followed by dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda" It nulls out the entire drive then writes zeros into it. If I'm really anal I'll then "dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda"

 

[Vicious]

You want the files gone just throw your HDD into a microwave problem solved.

 

[Bitter]

haha no, a high frequency electromagnet or fire does much better. infact i think fire would wipe the data better than anything. no magnetic film=no data

 

[malachi]

ill make sure to toss my laptop in the microwave with a bag of popcorn when i dont need it anymore.



no its not porn, i had someone put a flash drive in my laptop and instead of just looking at what i needed off the flash drive, i moved the folder onto my desktop. well when i was done i deleted the folder. but if someone wantted to do a trace thay can prove that these documents where at one time on my laptop.