Do deleted files REALLY get deleted?

Emptying the recycle bin deletes the files permanetelly, yes. Although it is possible to recover them, they dont take up extra space.

Data recovery software might recover some of them. There is software out there that will make it more difficult to recover them. Running a defrag after all the deletion can make it more difficult to recover. When you emptied the Recycle Bin you freed up all that space. It is probably best to run a defrag at this point. Disable any screensaver and run the defrag when you go to bed or take off to work. It takes awhile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragmentation

Another one might be a DOS based command called

chkdsk /r

That also takes a long time. It looks for bad sectors on the hard drive which can slow a computer down as it repeatedly tries to read the same bad sector. Defrag should be run maybe every other month and chkdsk /r maybe once or twice a year.

Your computer stores a list of all the files on your computer, called the Master File Table (MFT)

When you store a file on your computer, it is written to the hard disk, but an entry is also created in the MFT telling the computer exactly *where* on the disk the file is. It's like the index at the back of a book.

When you delete a file, it deletes the entry in the MFT, but it doesn't actually overwrite the data on the disk. As far as your computer is concerned, the file is gone, because it can't find any record of it in the MFT - however the data is still there, somewhere.

Next time you write a new file to your computer it will get written on top of the old file (the one that you have deleted) - because there is no record in the MFT telling the computer a file is already there.

So to answer your question: yes, it frees up the disk space for you, but no, the file is still on the computer until it is actually overwritten by another file. Though you would need special recovery software to get the deleted file back.

For the purpose of making more free space, deleting files (hold the shift key down when you delete and the files don't go to the recycle bin, they just get deleted) is sufficient. If you want to overwrite the remnants so no one can recover what you deleted, defragmenting may overwrite all the deleted files, but it might not. Erasing unused space will. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ is free, it's open source (so you know it's safe) and it can overwrite ALL unused space. The only better way to make sure that no one can tell what you had on your drive is to take the drive out, take the platters out if it and smash them into pieces. (A fully erased drive is still readable - if it's worth the price of a new house to read it. A smashed platter is impossible to read.)

No, the file are still on the computer. You can buy third-party programs that do extra things to destroy the data. But the truth is, even then the data could be recovered. For example, if you're computer was taken by the police, they could recover the data if it was needed for a court case.

Even if you opened up your PC and destroyed the hard drive, they could still- even then, take the platters and put them into a special machine to recover the data.

Data is never -ever- deleted beyond recovery.

Well, yes it's deleted for the purposes of 'cleaning' out the hard drive, but 'no' for the purposes of I don't want anyone to ever see that I had, let's say, "Men with Hats - The Safety Dance". There are techniques to retrieve deleted files.

On the bigger issue, Why are you deleting files? Let me just say that setting fire to your books does not make you read faster. It's an oversimplification, but valid.

Is your computer running slow? then you want to take a few more steps.

the MS link has 5 ways to speed your system up. (including yours - delete files, to which I say: only in certain cases). Run them first then install & run the TweakNow cleaner.

For what you are concearned with, erasing files then emptying the recycle bin is erasing them off the computer completely. (They can however still be recovered if not wrote over enough times).

Just erase then empty the recycle bin. I would then suggest defragmenting your computer so it can move around your remaining files apropriately.

They are not erased, but the directory file frees up the space they occupy on your hard drive so they can be over-written. It is the same as when you record over a used VCR tape; the old content is gone and new content is in place. When you delete the files, they are not gone, just forgotten. The computer is constantly writing and re-writing over the same disk over and over again. The directory file keeps track of where files can be found on your hard drive, but when they are deleted they are not deleted from the hard disk, they are only deleted from the directory.

Well techniclly yes it is permenantly deleted. If you want to clear your computer reboot it which means to make make your computer as if it was new and have nothing in it except the original things like interenet, my computer, etc,.

everything you have ever done on your comp is still there somewhere in the hard drive that only a total computer expert can usually get to