Alternate File Shredder is an application that allows you to finally delete files and/or folders (no recovery possible).

The program also can overwrite the free space on a drive, which means, that already deleted files cannot be restored, too.

Alternate File Shredder allows you to delete files and/or folders finally, which means they cannot be restored by recovery software. This is realized in that way, that before the file is deleted, its content will be overwritten with a random content or zero-values several times. The result of this is, that recovery software may restore the file with its size, but the content is changed - so the file gets useless.

Maybe you already deleted some files, which you better like to be shred. Here the program offers the possiblity to shred the free disk space of a drive. This is realized by writing data into the whole free disk space and delete it afterwards. This is necessary to make sure, that all existing file fragments are overwritten.

Here are some key features of "Alternate File Shredder":

· Delete files
First you have to select the files you want to delete (shred). You can either do this by the buttons "Add" and "Add folder" or via the edit-menu. If you add a folder, its content is scanned and all contained files and subfolder-files are added to the file list. Use the "Remove" and "Clear" button if added some wrong files. Files can also be excluded from the deletion progress by removing the small hook in front of their names.

· Shred free disk space
Before using this option (which may take several hours on large disks), close all other running programs which might write towards the desired drive. Save all your open files before!
The filelist content is not relevant for this option. Select "Shred free space" and another window opens. Here you can select the desired drive(s). Make sure, that your USB-Sticks or disks are inserted before. If you choos "OK", the process will be started.

Options
· "Random data writing" - If checked, the data of the files is overwritten with a random structure, otherwise using zero-values. A random data structure is saver to avoid sucessful data recovery.
· "Confirm delete" - if checked, the program will ask you before a file gets deleted (recommended!)
· "Number of iterations" - sets the number of iterations the data is overwritten, more iterations are safer, less are faster (3 is recommended - 30 is very secure, but you still can select more iterations)
· "Ignore write protection" - if selected, the write protection of files is ignored (if you want to delete a complete folder or the content of a drive, this is recommended)

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· English language file added
· Added "SavePath.ini" to change path for configuration files, allows to run program from an external device (e.g. USB-Stick)
· Uninstall now removes configuration files, if "SavePath.ini" is NOT used