When you delete sensitive files using standard Windows ‘Delete’ command, the operating system does not shred contents of the documents from hard drive, it just marks disk space, earlier occupied by the files, as ‘free’. To completely remove all the traces of the earlier deleted files, use Wipe Free Space command to wipe free space on the disk, where these files were stored.
To wipe free space on a disk, run Wipe Free Space command from ‘My Computer’ window using a pop-up menu. Right-click on the drive item you want to wipe: this will bring up the menu that includes Wipe Free Space. The following picture illustrates how to run the command:
BCWipe has three embedded wiping schemes: one random pass, US DoD standard with 7 passes and Peter Gutmann’s wiping scheme with 35 passes. Every pass in these schemes uses a definite byte pattern, and if you wish, you can get detailed description of the patterns by pressing
button. Also, press this button if you want to create and use your own wiping scheme with customized byte patterns and number of passes.