Deleting Emails

[Janice]

When you delete your emails, it is gone forever from your computer or copies hidden somewhere inside?

[chadtm80]

Is this a question Janice?

[Janice]

Yes sir

[coriolis]

The ones you wish you didn't delete are gone forever. The ones you want to get rid of never go away.

[Janice]

I didn't know if the mail was just deleted from your mail program and still in the computer somewhere.

[alicia-w]

do you use outlook? i can tell you how to undelete some if you do. are you looking for something you deleted?

[Janice]

No, I use Incredimail... I really don't want to look for something I deleted. I am cleaning out my computer, defrag etc. and just wanted to know if there was a place that stores deleted email, etc. that I can get rid of.

[coriolis]

When a regular file is deleted, it is not removed from your computer. The file name is changed so that the file system doesn't recognize it any more. But the information is still there. Commercial "undelete" utilities can recognize this information and sometimes retrieve it. The information statys there until the computer needs the space on the hard drive and over writes it. Defragmenting is effective for actually getting rid of it because it moves files around and rewrites most of them to fill empty spaces on your hard drive.

However all emails are stored in one big file on your computer, which actually resembles one huge text file. When you delete emails, the information in the file is changed. I would guess that when you close your email the modified file overwrites the old one. Therefore deleted emails can not be retrieved.

However, sophisticated computer forensics can retrieve information that has been overwritten several times. If you really wnat to get rid of something, take out the hard drive, smash it, pour kerosene on it and set it on fire, and then cut it up into a thousand pieces and throw them in the ocean.

[coriolis]

do you use outlook? i can tell you how to undelete some if you do. are you looking for something you deleted?

Are you talking about "recover deleted items" in the office version of Outlook? Outlook Express doesn't have that. If you use Office Outlook, you have to delete stuff twice to actually delete it.

[Janice]

I thought I read somewhere it was hidden and stored somewhere. The space it is taking was my concern. Over the years, we get tons of emails.

[coriolis]

Outlook or Outlook Express?

[kevin]

When a regular file is deleted, it is not removed from your computer. The file name is changed so that the file system doesn't recognize it any more. But the information is still there. Commercial "undelete" utilities can recognize this information and sometimes retrieve it. The information statys there until the computer needs the space on the hard drive and over writes it. Defragmenting is effective for actually getting rid of it because it moves files around and rewrites most of them to fill empty spaces on your hard drive.

However all emails are stored in one big file on your computer, which actually resembles one huge text file. When you delete emails, the information in the file is changed. I would guess that when you close your email the modified file overwrites the old one. Therefore deleted emails can not be retrieved.

However, sophisticated computer forensics can retrieve information that has been overwritten several times. If you really wnat to get rid of something, take out the hard drive, smash it, pour kerosene on it and set it on fire, and then cut it up into a thousand pieces and throw them in the ocean.

I prefer the giant magnet method, and for extra security depositing the hard drive in a lava flow.

[southerngale]

When a regular file is deleted, it is not removed from your computer. The file name is changed so that the file system doesn't recognize it any more. But the information is still there. Commercial "undelete" utilities can recognize this information and sometimes retrieve it. The information statys there until the computer needs the space on the hard drive and over writes it. Defragmenting is effective for actually getting rid of it because it moves files around and rewrites most of them to fill empty spaces on your hard drive.

However all emails are stored in one big file on your computer, which actually resembles one huge text file. When you delete emails, the information in the file is changed. I would guess that when you close your email the modified file overwrites the old one. Therefore deleted emails can not be retrieved.

However, sophisticated computer forensics can retrieve information that has been overwritten several times. If you really wnat to get rid of something, take out the hard drive, smash it, pour kerosene on it and set it on fire, and then cut it up into a thousand pieces and throw them in the ocean.

[alicia-w]

do you use outlook? i can tell you how to undelete some if you do. are you looking for something you deleted?

Are you talking about "recover deleted items" in the office version of Outlook? Outlook Express doesn't have that. If you use Office Outlook, you have to delete stuff twice to actually delete it.

exactly.

[coriolis]

Come to think of it, Janice said Incredimail, didn't she. My wife has it too and keeps sending me emails to work with fancy backgrounds and borders so that anyone in the office can see from a mile away that I'm getting a personal email.

But anyway, Incredimail works just like outlook express. If you delete something from your deleted items, it is for all realistic purposes deleted and gone forever. However if you think that your computer may ever end up in the hands of the FBI, see above.