Permanently deleting data.

[Mubbers]

I recently installed Norton Utilities, one of which is the ability to 'Wipe Info' i.e. permanently delete it. However the handbook said that XP System restore thoughtfully keeps copies of files such as .DOC and .XLS etc...

Where are these back-ups saved and can they safely be deleted?

 

[Lonman]

You can turn off System Restore by going to Control Panel> System> "System Restore" tab. You have the options of turning it off on all drives, or you can choose which drives to monitor.

My suggestion is to keep system restore active on your XP drive, and put all your porn and other nasties on another partition and turning it off on the non-critical drive/partition.

System Restore has saved me from reinstallation frustration a few times. (There could be a poem or a song in that "I got da reinstallation frustration ba-luuueesss"

 

[Mubbers]

Ah yes so transparent!

I arrived at the same conclusion shortly after posting the question. But what about the files already backed up, where are they? I've got letters to credit card companies, banks and all sorts now seemingly ferreted away by XP.

Bah humbug.

 

[Lonman]

Just turn off system restore on all drives. Reboot and reactivate it on the next boot. That "should" clear everything up for you.

 

[Mubbers]

Cheers!

Happy New Year!!