How to secure delete files

[gmlnd]

I have a file deleter program that deletes cookies and temporary internet files, however, it sends the files to the recycle bin. Is it possible to secure delete the files, this means that the files are not moved to the "recycle bin", but rather are actually fully deleted from the hard drive.

[David Crow]

What method are you currently using to delete with?

[gmlnd]

I use the following class to delete files. void CFileDeleter::Initialize() { m_nDeleteType = 0; LoadDeleteType(); } void CFileDeleter::LoadDeleteType() { HKEY hKey; long lRet; int nType = 0; DWORD dw = sizeof(int); DWORD dwType = REG_DWORD; lRet = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,"Software\\iISoftware\\iIWiper",0,KEY_ALL_ACCESS,&hKey); if(lRet == ERROR_SUCCESS) { lRet = RegQueryValueEx(hKey,"DeleteType",0,&dwType,(LPBYTE)&nType,&dw); if(lRet == ERROR_SUCCESS) { m_nDeleteType = nType; } } } BOOL CFileDeleter::FileDeleteOperation(LPTSTR lpszFile) { DWORD dwAttrib; dwAttrib = GetFileAttributes(lpszFile); if (dwAttrib == 0xFFFFFFFF) { return FALSE; } switch(m_nDeleteType) { case DELETE_RECYCLE: { SHFILEOPSTRUCT f; ZeroMemory(&f, sizeof(SHFILEOPSTRUCT)); f.wFunc = FO_DELETE; f.fFlags = FOF_ALLOWUNDO | FOF_NOCONFIRMATION; lpszFile[lstrlen(lpszFile)+1] = 0; f.pFrom = lpszFile; SHFileOperation(&f); break; } case DELETE_DELETE: DeleteFile(lpszFile); break; default: { SHFILEOPSTRUCT f; ZeroMemory(&f, sizeof(SHFILEOPSTRUCT)); f.wFunc = FO_DELETE; f.fFlags = FOF_ALLOWUNDO; f.pFrom = lpszFile; SHFileOperation(&f); break; } } return TRUE; }

[David Crow]

Just omit the FOF_ALLOWUNDO flag.

[gmlnd]

Thank's, I deleted the FOF_ALLOWUNDO flag. Now I don't see the deleted files in the recycle bin anymore, but when I click on the Clean File in my program, before it deletes, for every cookie a dialog box pops: Are you sure you want to delete "cookie name"? Is there any way I could stop that message from popping up?

[David Crow]

azi_games wrote: Is there any way I could stop that message from popping up? Adding FOF_NOCONFIRMATION, I presume.

[gmlnd]

Thank you for your help.