Secure delete of attachments in e-mail

[ajcstr]

can someone help me out with this one - I have a computer I just bought but need to return and my wife opened a confidential email with an excel attachment on it and I would like to erase/wipe the traces of it (it was not saved, just opened0. I believe the xls file is held in a temp folder in documents and settings in XP, would it be in the same place in Vista? Also are there any ~*.tmp files I need to find.

I can't wipe the entire drive because I need the OS in tact, but I did do a wipe of unused space after I wiped all the files I knew about, but I just thought of this attachment and I don't want to miss anything else.

Thanks for the help.

[n8chavez]

If that is all there is to it you could use Eraser (http://eraser.heidi.ie/index.php#download) to erase any of the temp files that were created when you opened the file. But I would also recommend you do a freespace wipe just to be on the safe side. There are other applications you could use too; such as Ccleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/download), which is designed to remove temporary files. It also has a secure erase function.

[JRViejo]

ajcstr, I don't use Vista, but perhaps this Temporary Files - Temp Folder (http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/104637-temporary-files-temp-folder.html) Vista Forums tutorial could help you, until someone chimes in.

[ajcstr]

-{ Quote: "If that is all there is to it you could use Eraser (http://eraser.heidi.ie/index.php#download) to erase any of the temp files that were created when you opened the file. " }-

Right I am asking for help to identify those

[ajcstr]

-{ Quote: "ajcstr, I don't use Vista, but perhaps this Temporary Files - Temp Folder (http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/104637-temporary-files-temp-folder.html) Vista Forums tutorial could help you, until someone chimes in." }-

I would prefer to securely delete them.

Actually though, this tutorial may help me find them all.

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "Right I am asking for help to identify those" }-

In that case, you should always use this (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/maintenance/ht/manualtempvista.htm) guide. It's been useful to me in the past.

You might also want to make sure that your swap file has been erased, or at least refreshed.

[JRViejo]

-{ Quote: "Actually though, this tutorial may help me find them all." }-
ajcstr, well, you read my mind. I thought, if you could find them, you could target them with a strong erasure program. Best of luck!

[ajcstr]

Ok, so I deleted IE content (using the standard IE tools) which I think would have deleted (not securely) most of the stuff. Then I ran the wipe of unused space which should have removed the traces of what I unsecurely deleted. This was last night.

Now I will do some secure deletes with CCleaner and by navigating to these folders for anything left over. then I will use the recovery partition to reimage the active partition to the way it was when I bought it.

Think that will cover me? Again- nothing confidential was directly saved - just that stupid email attachment was opened.