I understand, you may be wondering on what exactly a clean wipe means. While you delete a file from your computer it gets stored in the recycle bin for some time and when you empty the bin, it is gone. But have you ever thought if it is actually gone out of the computer? No! It just isn’t visible, but will be still available until it is over written. This can be good if in case you wish to recover any accidentally deleted data. But what if you do not want to take the risk of others recovering your data.
Here are few utilities which shall help you to clean wipe your data for free. These utilities allows you to clean wipe a specific file or specific partition or clean a complete drive or wipe free spaces from your computer.
CCleaner
As you know already, this tool does a lot of other jobs apart from wiping an entire disk or just the free space. You shall click on Tools, Drive Wiper and select either of the two options to clean wipe. However choosing to wipe the entire disk will keep the files on the C drive, but erase the rest. Click Here to download Ccleaner.
File Shredder
This tool is light and free and gives you a view of the Windows Explorer so you shall choose a specific file and clean it off the drive. It also helps you to clean any free space available in the disk. Click Here to download File Shredder.
Windows Recovery Environment
This utility is available with Windows 8.1 and allows you to erase data thoroughly while running the re-installation wizard.
In case your computer is equipped with a Solid State Drive (SSD) then you may also try to get a ssd secure erase utility from the manufacturer’s website and then clean wipe the drive.