4 Ways to Delete a File On Your Computer - wikiHow (2024)

FAQs

4 Ways to Delete a File On Your Computer - wikiHow? ›

Locate the file to be deleted.

Use the right-click menu

Here's how to permanently delete files through the right-click context menu: Select the file or folder you want to permanently delete, right-click it, and choose Delete. Then, right-click the Recycle Bin on your desktop and select Empty Recycle Bin.

Navigate to the folder that you want to delete (with all its files and subfolders). Use cd path, for example, *cd C:\Trash\Files* to do so. Use cd … to navigate to the parent folder and run the command RMDIR /Q/S __foldername__ to delete the folder and all of its subfolders.

Delete a file or folder (Windows 10)

Go to the location where stores your file or folder. Click the name of the file or folder you wish to delete. Press the delete key (on the keyboard) or right click the file or folder and click Delete.

Open Command Prompt.

Then choose "Command Prompt". Type the following command: del / erase filepath . This will permanently delete the file. If you choose to delete a folder, type -s at the end of it to delete all of the subdirectories.

The safest way to permanently delete files from your hard drive is through a process called “zero fill.” When you zero fill a storage device, you're overwriting your entire drive contents with zeroes so that data on that drive can no longer be recovered by others.

To permanently delete a file:

Press and hold the Shift key, then press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Open Disk Cleanup.

An easy way to do this is to press Windows key + S to activate the search bar, type cleanup , and then click Disk Cleanup in the search results. Disk Cleanup is one of the fastest ways to delete unneeded files created by the Windows operating system.

Is it illegal to delete computer files? ›

Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, it is illegal for an employee to knowingly damage or delete files without authorization. If you were to choose to pursue this, your employee could face criminal and civil liability.

Press and hold the CTRL key as you select multiple files to delete. To select a long list of files click the first file in the list, press and hold SHIFT, then click the last file in the list.

To wipe your drive in Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & security > Recovery, and then click the Get Started button. When prompted, choose the option for Remove everything. You should then choose the Local reinstall option to reinstall Windows from your computer.

To do so, right-click Start and choose Open Windows Explorer and then browse to locate the file you want to delete. In Windows Explorer, right-click the file or folder that you want to delete and then choose Delete. The Delete File dialog box appears. Click Yes to delete the file.

The Delete Process uses a source (an Archive File) to select the archived data to be deleted and deletes the data from a destination (one or more tables in a database).

File owners have the implicit ability to modify file permissions, even if they aren't explicitly granted any permissions to the file. So, you may have to take ownership of a file, give yourself permissions to delete the file, and then delete the file.