| When the XP prompt gives you the options to | | | | the file is corrupted or unrecoverable. You can filter |
| Standby, Turn Off or Restart, holding down the Shift | | | | file types or enter keywords instead of scanning the |
| key gives you another option instead of Standby: | | | | entire hard drive to make searching quicker. |
| Hibernate. Should you Standby or Hibernate? It | | | | Just because a file is deleted and removed from your |
| depends on how long you will be away from your | | | | Recycle Bin doesn't mean it's gone. Windows does |
| computer. Standby is good if you won't be gone for | | | | not destroy deleted files, but keeps them until they |
| hours. It conserves energy by running your computer | | | | are overwritten. Here are three freeware to help you |
| on low power. Hibernate is better if you will be away | | | | get rid of your sensitive data such as classified |
| for a while but do not want to wait for a total | | | | documents and make them unrecoverable. |
| restart. It writes the contents of the memory onto a | | | | Sami Tolvanen's Eraser 5.87 Beta 1 overwrites data |
| file. Now that you know, you have no excuse to | | | | several times with multiple passes of pseudorandom |
| keep your screensaver running. | | | | data along with several data pattern writes. Kevin |
| These DOS commands are very useful for Windows | | | | Solway's Delete Doctor 2.2 is much simpler, aiming to |
| XP users when they cannot be bothered to manually | | | | remove files that resist deletion, such as corrupted |
| shutdown the computer after downloading or after | | | | file names and leftovers of viruses and Trojans. At |
| certain system scans or commands. To set | | | | just 148 KB, you'll barely notice it's there. Simple File |
| automatic shutdown, go the the Run icon on the | | | | Shredder 3.2 is the core product of Scar5 Software. |
| Start menu of Windows. Type in 'cmd' and press | | | | Its main feature is the System Shredderwhich |
| enter to open the window. Type 'shutdown' to | | | | locates browser cache, cookie, and history files for |
| display all the commands if you are not familiar with | | | | shredding. |
| them. The most useful commands are 'shutdown' | | | | If file duplication is bugging you, there's a solution for |
| followed by -l to logoff, -r for restart, -t xx to set a | | | | your woes. Easy Duplicate File Finder makes finding |
| time (xx standing for number of seconds) and -a to | | | | and removing duplicate files on your computer fast |
| abort the shutdown. | | | | and trouble-free. It is free software designed to |
| presents their award-winning freeware Recover Files. | | | | efficiently compare files and find exact contents. It |
| As you could guess, it undeletes erased files. Be it a | | | | searches your hard drive and scans files |
| file lost through an emptied Recycle Bin, a file deleted | | | | byte-by-bytes, flags duplicates for removal to the |
| from a portable drive or an image erased from a | | | | Recycle Bin or permanent deletion. It also renames |
| memory card, Recover Files can get it back soon | | | | duplicates to test which ones can be deleted and lists |
| after deletion. The simple interface tells you what | | | | them in an HTML or TXT file. Look no further for a |
| files can be detected, file information and the | | | | user-friendly interface and full unicode support. Easy |
| chances of recovering it. "Very Good" status means | | | | Duplicate File Finder works in all Windows OS, including |
| that you can still recover a file; "Overwritten" means | | | | XP and Vista. |