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IDEA: to Shred a file already in Recycle Bin

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Mr.Fancypants:
Often times I look in my Windows XP Recycle Bin and see something I probably should have shredded rather than merely deleted.

If I'm not really (really) careful about what I'm doing, I'll "Restore" that sensitive file to some unknown place, intending to properly shred the darn thing.
Drat!  Uh,... What was that filename again?  And where is it now?

weeks (or months) later...
Damn!  There's that super-sensitive file I wanted to shred!  (heart attack) I hope nobody else saw it.

Sure would be handy if I could just shred that file directly from the recycle bin somehow.

f0dder:
Just restore the file and then shred it.

When you "delete" a file to the recycle bin, it's not actually deleted, but moved to a special hidden folder on your harddrive. If you restore the file, it's just moved back to it's old location. This moving back and forth doesn't move the actual file data, just the "name that points to it".

So: restore, shred, (shift+)delete :)

mouser:
better:

If you install the excellent free shredding tool called Eraser (http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/), it adds an option to the Recycle Bin right click context menu that will shred the contents of your recycle bin.  Too bad it doesn't work on individual files inside the recycle bin because i think this is a very smart request by Fancypants, but it comes close in terms of use.

Fancy - might i suggest that you email the author of Eraser and suggest he add this functionality - it seems to me a very good idea.  And let us know what he (or she) says!

lanux128:
If I'm not really (really) careful about what I'm doing, I'll "Restore" that sensitive file to some unknown place, intending to properly shred the darn thing.
Drat!  Uh,... What was that filename again?  And where is it now?
--- End quote ---
instead of using the restore function, you can also drag the item to your desktop then shred it to your hearts content.. :) but then again, a tool that can work within the Recycle Bin would prove to be useful too..

f0dder:
Just make sure that if you drag something from the recycle bin, drag it somewhere on the same partition the file was deleted from - otherwise the file data on the original partition will not be shredded, and you'll have a copy of the data on the partition you drag to.

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