When you delete a file or data by sending it to the recycle bin you won’t actually remove it from the hard drive, in fact those deleted files can still be retrieved very easily. If you have sensitive private data that you need to erase permanently then you’ll need a special utility for that.

There are various programs and utilities that claim to erase hard drive data permanently, some free and some at a cost. Here is one that I’ve found that works perfectly and is 100% free.

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Eraser 6 works with Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

You can download Eraser for free here.