What private information is stored on your computer: Credit card information? Your company’s secrets? Compromising photos?

When the time comes to recycle your electronic storage, you don’t want someone else to be able to recycle that private information, especially if it can be used against you later. Deleting a file isn’t enough. Most computer delete routines merely delete the pointer to that file. A quick Google search will turn up many pieces of software and services that can quickly recover deleted files.

To delete files securely, there are many pieces of commercial software, like SDelete from Microsoft, and free software, like Freeraser, that will allow you to “wipe” files by overwriting anything you delete with random data. Some of these programs can run in the background, silently wiping discarded information as you work.

If the information you are deleting is especially sensitive or valuable, data forensics experts can look at the “ghost” signature left on a disk and read what used to be there.

To prevent this, The US Department of Defense has a standard – DoD 5220.22-M-for wiping media clean of sensitive data before recycling. This entails first writing a 0 to every data space on the disk, then a 1, then a 256. If you are going to recycle an old PC, tools like ZDelete and Open Source program Darik’s Boot and Nuke (www.dban.org) allows you to load a boot able disk and automatically wipe your hard disk.

Of course, the most secure way to prevent unauthorized data recycling is to shred your electronic storage. Most document destruction companies have a shredding machine for hard disks. You can also purchase your own if you dispose of a lot of disks.

When the time comes to recycle that old computer, don’t let whoever gets your PC next recycle your data. Data protection starts with you: Destroy it yourself before you give it to them.