Keywords: cleaning, deleting, hard drive, hdd, cleanup, format, hide

Whenever you 'delete' a file, no matter how many times you empty your recycle bin, the file is not really deleted. Instead, the Operative System (Windows) 'forgets' about the file, not linking to it or showing it anymore, and overwriting it with new data if (and only if) it needs to. However, most of the time, Windows does not require the space that the deleted file still occupies. And meanwhile the data of the file remains untouched, as if it had not been deleted.

A large number of programs, usually known as Data Recovery software, are able to scan the hard drive for these 'deleted' files, and restore them. Any person which access to the computer, including unauthorized ones, through the use of malicious software, can potentially and easily recover, view and distribute (if they so wish) deleted documents, images, videos, and other types of files. There have even been cases of certain viruses remotely and automatically recovering files with financial information, and distributing them to malicious third parties.

SafeCleaner's main purpose is to ensure the real destruction of all deleted files in a drive, making it impossible for Recovery Software to recover them. Unlike other similar products however, SafeCleaner will destroy only deleted files, leaving your other files as they are. Hence, you can use the computer normally, delete files as always, and simply run SafeCleaner every so often to make sure that whatever you deleted will stay that way.

It is important to emphasize that SafeCleaner's design makes it possible to ensure the deletion of files retroactively. That is, even if you deleted files before installing SafeCleaner, SafeCleaner will also destroy these files' data.