"S S" <nonsense@Hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dO0li.4269$jY5.1095@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> From what I have read on the net nothing is ever totally deleted. Where
> are the folders that `old` info is kept eg hotmail etc.
> I am interested to see what still remains as I use window washer every
> week.
Depending on exactly what you mean by that, it may be at least partially
right. However, since you are asking about what *folders* deleted things are
in, I suspect that you've very greatly misread something. Here's the story:
"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space as
available to be used. There are third-party programs that can sometimes
recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by the file is
likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes the file
unrecoverable.
So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you try
recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go downhill from
there.
But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop using the
computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so already. Download
an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several others
to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and bring it
yours on a floppy to try.
If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very expensive
and may or may not work in your case.
It is only in that last sense--deleted and overwritten files *sometimes*
being recoverable--that one could say "nothing is ever totally deleted." And
it's for that reason that the US government doesn't ever rely on software to
delete really sensitive files; instead they physically destroy the drive by
melting it in a furnace.
--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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