User names, passwords, financial details, work documents - most PCs contain all kinds of confidential information that you really wouldn't want to share with others. But if your system is stolen, or you sell on an old PC or hard drive when you're finished with it, then that could be exactly what you're doing. Unless you take the precaution of using iolo DriveScrubber.

If it's working on an active PC then DriveScrubber can be used to securely erase any hard drive directory entries pointing to deleted files, a speedy process that makes it very difficult to recover any data. But if you need the best security then you can alternatively run a "deep clean" that overwrites all free and slack space on the drive. It might take an hour or two, but once finished you can be sure that any deleted files really are gone forever.

Of course if you're looking to sell a PC, hard drive or other storage device, then you'll want to go further still, and DriveScrubber can help here, too. At its simplest the program will erase every sector on a drive completely, preventing any data from being recovered. Use it on USB flash storage as well as hard drives to ensure your privacy is protected.

Wiping the system drive of a PC is more difficult: some files will be in use so Windows won't allow it. DriveScrubber can get around this too, though, by letting you create a bootable CD or floppy. Start your PC from that disc and you'll launch a simplified custom version of DriveScrubber that will wipe the system drive for you (see below).

iolo System Mechanic is the all-in-one PC maintenance tool that provides everything you need to make your PC run like new. It can repair Registry and hard drive problems, accelerate your system start time and internet speed, clean up junk files, defragment your hard drive and Registry, fix PCs that won't start, detect and remove spyware, and a whole lot more. You can get System Mechanic 8 for 50% from the standard retail price. See your email from iolo for further information.