How to permanently wipe files for good

I've messed around with plenty of different junk cleaners and uninstaller tools by now, but what I actually need is something that "physically" nukes files so there's zero chance of them being recovered. I’m trying to deep-clean my entire OS and get everything back to a pristine state. Someone suggested using BubbleFree Space Shredder, but man, seeing it flag about 20GB for deletion makes me nervous as hell. I don't keep any personal files on this machine—it's strictly just the OS. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate, and even though I've only got about ten tiny programs installed, I'm sitting at 50GB used out of a 300GB drive, leaving 250GB free.

Here's the deal: I bought an original copy of Windows Home Premium, but I totally botched the driver installation. A buddy of mine stepped in to install the Ultimate version instead, and now I've got all these duplicate drivers cluttering things up. None of the cleaning software I've tried so far seems to catch these duplicates, or maybe I'm just missing something. Either way, I want to grab a reliable tool that can actually maintain this rig properly.

Based on what you guys have dealt with, what's a solid, trustworthy program you'd recommend?
thanks

If your buddy did things the right way and installed the Ultimate version—meaning he wiped the drive clean during the setup process—then you shouldn't be seeing any duplicates at all.

Basically, file shredders exist for one reason: to make sure data recovery is impossible—as in, there's absolutely no way to reconstruct those files once they've been nuked by a standard delete command.

Benjamin King2 said:If your buddy actually did things right when installing the Ultimate version—like, I mean he wiped the whole drive during the setup—then you shouldn't have any duplicate files at all.

Basically, file shredders exist for one reason: to make sure data recovery is impossible. They stop people from being able to reconstruct anything you thought you deleted with a simple delete command.

So, yeah... looks like he didn't wipe the drive because my duplicate finder tool is flagging double drivers everywhere. I don't know how much I can trust these tools, but I doubt some random software is just pulling duplicates out of thin air just to trick me into buying it. Probably not. Also, does it make sense that my C: drive is showing 50 GB used out of 300 GB? Does that sound about right for Windows 7 Ultimate plus whatever other junk and files I've got taking up maybe 5 GB?

50 GB isn't actually that much if you're just running a few lightweight apps... what usually eats up all your space by default is the reserved storage for the Recycle Bin and System Restore—those things automatically scale based on how big your system partition is. You can totally tweak their settings in Properties and probably claw back about 10 GB that way. Also, run Disk Cleanup to clear out the junk. Are there any other folders sitting on your C drive besides Program Files, Windows, and Users?

Go ahead and paste a screenshot of that duplicate finder tool you're using.

Based on everything I'm seeing here, it looks like my friend didn't actually perform a full format during his "new installation." That’s why that Windows.old folder is still sitting there taking up space. 🙂

Honestly, just do a clean reinstall of Windows and wipe the C: partition completely. It’s the simplest way to fix this.

Benjamin King2 said:50 GB is a massive amount if you've only got a handful of small programs installed... what usually eats up all your space by default are the reserved space for the Recycle Bin and System Restore points, since they automatically scale based on how big your system partition is. You can actually tweak those settings in their properties and save yourself maybe 10 gigs. Also, just run Disk Cleanup to clear out the junk. Besides Program Files, Windows, and Users, do you have any other folders sitting on your C drive?

Just drop a screenshot of that duplicate finder program you're using.

I've only got one drive, the C: drive... and look, I'm not gonna go through the hassle of taking a screenshot of the duplicate finder right now. It's called DupKiller, and I've also got LookDisc 5.1 running.

The other stuff I've got installed to try and get this mess organized is:

1. EASEUS Partition Master 7.1.1 Home Edition... I was planning on messing around with my C: partitions using this.

2. Disc SpeedUp... a defrag tool.

3. WinUtilities... an all-in-one utility, includes a cleaner.

4. BySoft FreeRAM... a little tool for analyzing and managing RAM... and finally

5. Remove Empty Directories... a program that hunts down and kills empty folders.

Even though most of this is free software, half of it is absolute garbage. For example,😛 that duplicate finder is useless—instead of auto-selecting everything to delete, it only flags the first 19 files for removal. And the empty folder remover? It keeps deleting the exact same folders every single day. I don't get it, everything seems installed perfectly fine... I'll grab some screenshots of these programs actually running tomorrow.

On your C drive, you’re supposed to see three main folders: Program Files, macOS, and Users. You can pretty much ignore the Users folder—it’s just clutter—but everything else you've got installed plus the OS itself really shouldn't be eating up more than about 15 GB.