The recycle bin is one of the best inventions in the computer world, trash can that, unfortunately, still does not reach mobile devices, at least as easily as in Windows, Linux and macOS. However, for people who share a computer and take care of their privacy, it is a double-edged sword, since anyone can access deleted files and easily recover them.
Windows, natively, activates the recycle bin so that it stores all the files that we delete for 30 days, a period that can be extended up to a maximum of 60 days or reduced to a minimum of 1 day. We can also configure the trash so that files are never deleted stored in it, a configuration that, in the long term, can be a serious problem of space on the computer, especially if we usually work with many files, be it documents, videos or images.
Permanently delete files in Windows
What interests us, in the case of sharing the same user account with other people sporadically, is that all the files that we delete from our computer are completely eliminated without going through the recycling bin. The fastest and easiest method is to press the Shift key while dragging the file to the trash, however, it is not the best option, since we can forget to press the button and, if we are not careful to review the contents of the trash , we can leave some unwanted trace on it.
The solution to this problem goes through disable recycle bin. By deactivating the recycle bin, every time we instruct Windows to delete a file, it will be completely deleted from the computer, with no possibility of recovery, so it is associated with a risk that we must assume. If we do not want the files that we delete from our computer to remain in the output box of the trash, we must deactivate it. To deactivate the recycle bin and not keep any of the files that we delete in Windows, the first thing we must do is access it by clicking twice on its icon.
Then, on the ribbon, click on Recycle Bin Properties. In the section Settings for selected locationwe check the box Don’t move files to recycle bin, remove files immediately on deletion.
In addition, it is also recommended to check the option Show dialog to confirm deletion. In this way, when we delete a file, Windows will show us a message reminding us that we are going to delete a file, a file that will not be available in the Recycle Bin for later recovery.
Applications to delete files permanently in Windows
But, if the solution that Windows offers us when it comes to deleting files does not satisfy us completely, we can make use of the application Eraseran application with an interface very similar to the traditional Windows file explorer that we can download for free from its website and that allows us to permanently delete the files on our computer.
Another interesting option that we have at our disposal to erase Windows files definitively without the possibility of recovery is Wise Disk Cleanera free application that also includes tools to defragment the hard drive and search for junk on the hard drive, including that generated by browsers.
Recover deleted files
As I mentioned above, we must bear in mind that, if the files that we delete from our computer do not go through the recycle bin, they are completely deleted from our computer, so if we want to recover them, we will need to use third-party tools to be able to do it, since Windows does not offer us any solution in the form of an application to recover deleted files.
Stellar Data Recovery Y Disk Drill Pro It allows us to recover deleted files from Windows very quickly and easily without the need for computer knowledge on the part of the user.
