Delete Permanently

Shift + Delete

This menu item deletes selected files and folders, but does not send them to the Windows Recycle Bin. This is not a secure delete; see Destroy File(s)… for secure deletion of files.

Note

Files and folders deleted by Windows are not really removed (immediately) from the file system. Instead, the File Allocation Table (FAT16 and FAT32 file systems) or Master File Table (NTFS) is marked indicating that the file has been deleted, and its entry is cleared. The disk space occupied by the file is declared free for use, but the actual file data is not immediately removed. It can, however, be over-written; once that occurs, the file is usually unrecoverable, except possibly in part, by recovery utilities such as Recuva, a freeware product by Piriform.