securely deleting email

M

mgm

Is there a way to delete emails other than simply moving them to the deleted
items outlook basket? I would like to delete certain emails by moving them
to a software file shredder for secutiy purposes.
Thanks,
mgmombo
 
K

Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]

If you use Shift+Delete that will bypass the Deleted Items folder. To clear
out the white space left behind you can compact your PST file.
 
M

mgm

Thank you for your quick response. Yes, the shift+delete does bypass the
deleted items basket/folder, but how do I know where these deleted files
reside so that I may securely shred them
thanks again,
mgmombo
 
K

Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]

They exist as white space in your PST file, which is usually encoded anyway
and can be protected by a password. When you compact the PST file you will
compact out the white space.
 
M

mgm

Is there a way to make sure this pst or white space is infact incoded? How
do I compact out the white space. If the white space is compacted, does
this insure complete, unrecoveral secure deletion of these sensitive emails?
Thanks again,
mgmombo
 
B

Brian Tillman

mgm said:
Is there a way to make sure this pst or white space is infact
incoded?
Click to expand...

It's not "incoded", as you say, with anything but Microsoft's internal PST
format.
How do I compact out the white space.
Click to expand...

Right-click on the root of your Personal Folders file (in the Folders view)
and click Properties, then Advanced. Click "Compact Now".
If the white space is
compacted, does this insure complete, unrecoveral secure deletion of
these sensitive emails?
Click to expand...

Since compacting your PST will overwrite the white space with data from
other items in your PST, I think that would be sufficient. It's not a U.S.
Department of Defense-level erasure, but no usually available tool on an
office PC would be able to read the old data, since it has been overwritten.
Now, if the deleted sensitive text were at the end of the PST prior to
compaction, I can imagine that the bits of the text may reside on the free
space of your hard drive somewhere, since compacting the PST releases unused
white space back to the disk manager, but no tool readily available on an
office PC would be able to read that, either.
 
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