System
cleaners won't clean these
Windows hides things in places you cannot see
in Windows
Windows XP and Windows Vista
Most
of you know, by now, when you delete a file in Windows, the file
isn't really deleted. The space that it occupied is freed and
Windows will use the space the file once occupied for something
else since it's now marked "free" as far a Windows is concerned.
Even when Windows overwrites that space with something else, the
shadow of the file that was there before can be recovered. In
order to completely eliminate any chance of anyone recovering
the file that you deleted, you'd have to overwrite that space
with gibberish many, many times - until eventually all traces of
the file are obliterated. So deleting files does not really
delete anything. And when Windows overwrites the space freed
with another file, the file that was originally there can still
be recovered using the right tools.
And
did you know that there are places in the Windows operating
system that remain totally hidden to you, no matter what you do?
In these secret and hidden places are stored everything you've
ever written, typed or viewed on your computer. While this
doesn't really mean to too much to most of us at first glance,
it starts meaning a lot more when you start thinking about the
credit card information you've typed when you've purchased
something online, or the passwords you've typed in to financial
sites, and other things you really don't want anyone to be able
to dredge up from the bowels of your computer system.
Before
you get paranoid, we must be totally candid here. Because these
files are so well hidden, no Trojan, or other malicious software
program is going to infect your system and start digging around
and sending this information to criminals in some far off place.
It's not going to happen. It would take hands-on access to your
computer and specialized software to dig up this information and
read it. Most people don't have this kind of knowledge or this
kind of software. And most people who have access to your
computer don't have this kind of knowledge or the kinds of tools
they need to actually read the data contained in these deep and
arcane areas of your computer.
We
just wanted you to know that these files exist and they can be
ferreted out if someone has the tools, the access and the time
to do it. Why Microsoft did this, only they know. We tend to
think it is the legacy left over from early versions of
DOS-based Windows and not some dark, intentional plot by
Microsoft. Some security sites think Windows did this on
purpose, we disagree. What reason would Microsoft have for doing
this?
If you
want to see some of the hidden files deep within your computer
you can do try this (for Windows XP and Windows Vista users):
Click
"Start" and in the "Run" command type the word "Command"
(without the quotes).
At the
prompt (which looks like this >) type CD C:\ (this changes the
prompt to the root of your C:\ drive)
At the
prompt C:\> type dir/s/ah/p
The
first page of information will appear. To view the next page
press "Enter". Keep pressing "Enter" to view the next page of
information. Note: If you leave the /p off the command
dir/s/ah/p you'll get a long list of everything without having
to go through the information page by page, but you'll have a
lot of information to scroll through. We find it easy to read,
doing it page by page.
Note
the dates of the file and the directory information (on the left
edge of the DOS-like dialog window). You'll find files and
directories there with dates that go back to the date Windows
was installed on your computer.
This
is just an example of things on your computer which you can't
see from within Windows. This is more of a "FYI" tip than
anything else. Just so you're aware that there isn't anything
you can view or type on your computer that isn't stored
somewhere - and kept secret even from the you, the owner of the
computer.
System
cleaners are good for removing junk from the visible parts of
Windows, but no cleaner will wipe these kinds of files which are
deliberately hidden by Windows.
One
more thing, we used the term "hidden" in this tip. This is
different from the "View Hidden Files" under folder options.
Those files are not the hidden files we're talking about here.
We're talking about files that are hidden no matter what "hidden
files" or "system files' you choose to view under "Folder
Options". These "hidden files" can be seen easily - and Windows
gives you the choice to make them viewable. The hidden files and
folders that we've been talking about in this article are
different - they're hidden by Windows but they are always there.
