delete

Even though we could have done without the nag screen, this free disk cleaning utility performed very well during our tests. Even beginners will appreciate how easy it is to use.

When you first install Wise Disk Cleaner 3 Free, you're taken to the publisher's Web site for more information about the program. Each time we accessed Wise Disk Cleaner 3 Free, we received a nag screen asking if we wanted to upgrade to the paid professional version. It was easily bypassed, but became something of a nuisance. A helpful wizard appeared at start-up, and walked us through … Read more

There are so many privacy tools available, it's possible to dismiss one just based on an unappealing interface. In the case of Shredder, a free file and folder deletion tool, the design choices are not only questionable, they get in the way of using the program.

The black background is bad, but the green text on top of the black background makes it almost unbearable. The panel-style window displays your folders on the left, the individual files are displayed on the right, and the selected files and folders on the bottom. Blink and you'll miss the nondescript command … Read more

It requires care when using, but this freeware executable eliminates unwanted Registry keys. RegAssassin business-like interface sports only a text entry box, a pair of check boxes, and a function button. Using it requires experience editing the Registry. The program does display warning messages, but inexperienced users could easily crash their system by deleting an important Registry key.

Operating RegAssassin is simple and quick. Users merely enter a Registry key name and delete the key with a single button click. The application includes simple check box-enabled options to reset the key permissions and delete all subkeys. The utility recommends using … Read more

The name Pandora originates in Greek mythology, and it means "all-giving." It's an appropriate name for Pandora Recovery, which can give you back files you've deleted--even those gone for months.

Now for NTFS and FAT-formatted volumes, Pandora functions by scanning the hard drive and building an index of existing files and deleted file markers. This, in turn, allows the dead files to be brought back to life--as long as the file format is currently supported by the computer. Users can browse for deleted files, search for specific ones, preview certain file types like images, and get … Read more

The name Pandora originates in Greek mythology, and it means "all-giving." It's an appropriate name for the program that Power Downloader recommends for you this week, too. Pandora Recovery is a well-designed freeware program that can restore files you've deleted or thought lost because of a hard-disk failure.

Accidentally permanently deleting a file is a fact of computing life, but as long as the hard drive is NTFS-formated, Power D happily recommends Pandora to all of his friends. Whether Kitty Kilobyte needs to recover an old spreadsheet long since gone, or Francois Foto didn't realize … Read more

So that old, ancient, worn-out, first-generation iPhone is headed out the door. Maybe you'll sell it on eBay. Maybe you'll give it to a friend. But before you send it on its way, you need to get all that personal data off it, such as your e-mail passwords, and those compromising photos of you, and of course, all your friends' e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

Watch the video to see this tip in action.

If you're not too paranoid, the following is all you have to do:

How many times have you deleted a file, emptied the Recycle Bin, and then had that sinking feeling in your gut. You need one of those files. Or maybe you just had a hard-disk crash, and suddenly all the files have disappeared.

I'll tell you how to recover your files, and show you how to do it, in this video.

For this example, I'm going to use a USB drive. But the same thing applies to most data drives. If your disk is still readable by the computer, you can recover all kinds of cool stuff.

See when … Read more

Dude, where's my e-mail?

That's what thousands of Charter Communications customers asked on Monday when the company inadvertently deleted 14,000 active e-mail accounts, according to an Associated Press story published on Thursday.

Officials at Charter believe a glitch in software during routine maintenance caused the e-mail accounts to be deleted. The company is offering $50 credits to customers who were affected.

A company representative told the news service that there was no way to retrieve the messages, photos or other attachments that had been sitting in people's in-boxes when they were deleted.

Anita Lamont, the Charter … Read more

Keeping data is crucial, there's no doubt about this. Data backing up has evolved from as painful as copying files onto a floppy disk to an eye candy with Apple's recent invention of the Time Machine.

However, on the other hand, completely losing data is equally important, when you decide to let go your old hard drive. Trashing files from within the operating system generally doesn't make the information completely go way. And you don't want it to be retrieved by people with ill intention.

Today, Wiebetech introduced the first standalone, consumer-friendly hard drive wiping device … Read more