Have you ever deleted a photo from a social networking website like Facebook or MySpace? Did you think that was the end of it? You might just be wrong. According to an article on BBC many of the websites take the easy way out. When you delete the photo from the website it appears to actually go away, such as when viewed from the photo album, however the file still exists on their servers until it is overwritten by other files.
A similar thing happens when deleting a file from your personal computer, the shortcut or link to the file goes away, according to the operating system anyway, however the file is still on your computer and easily retrievable using free software such as freeundelete. You don't even need to be a forensics expert. While this is great when you want to recover something you accidentally deleted it can become a problem if you want to get rid of something permanently. Your best bet is to use a file shredding or wiping utility. One of my favorites is Evidence Eliminator which I have tested myself. You can even download a free demo of Evidence Eliminator and test it yourself. Evidence Eliminator will overwrite your deleted files a number of times making it unretrievable. More on the use of file shredders later, for now please read the article on BBC: Websites 'keeping deleted photos'
