Disclaimer: Tip Dude’s tips can cause serious damage if not followed carefully. Reader beware! (If you need further explanation, read the site terms here).

Tip Dude never deletes anything . Then, again, Tip Dude never wants to delete anything. But, sometimes, Tip Dude has to delete stuff. Here are ten tips on how to delete stuff quickly and efficiently, both on and off the computer:

• Use The DELETE Key - Go on. That’s what it’s there for. Press “Delete”, and, bing, your text is gone. Oh wait, do you mean you actually wanted to delete files you’ve saved, not just text you have accidentally mistyped? Go to the next tip.
• Drag It To The Trash - On a Mac, to delete stuff, you just use your mouse and drag it to the trash. There is often a paper crumpling sound effect that plays when you drop something in the trash, and then the trash can becomes puffed up and bulging. That tells you you have deleted something! (Tip Dude seems to remember that on a PC it is called the Wastebasket, or Recycle Bin, or something like that.)
• Drag It To The Trash, And Then Empty Trash - The trouble with deleting stuff by dragging it to the trash is that it’s not really deleted. Anyone can open the trash and drag stuff back out, just like when you go dumpster diving. So, to make sure it is really deleted, you go to the Finder’s file menu, and choose Empty Trash. This will really delete your stuff.
• Use DEL *.* And DELTREE Commands - In case you don’t like dragging stuff to the trash or don’t have a mouse, you can always delete stuff by using the MS-DOS commands DEL and DELTREE. The command DELTREE is only available in DOS version 5.0 and above, which means if you have Windows, you should be able to use DELTREE. But beware! DELTREE will delete many many files all at once, including the whole disk drive all at once if you aren’t careful. So be careful when it asks you, “Are you Sure? (Y/N) _”
• Login As root, Then Use “rm -Rf /” Command - This command is so dangerous that it is disabled on most Macs. To delete the entire file system on a Mac, you have to first turn on the super user account called root. root is not just an administrator, but it is like God for your computer. When root says something, it shalt be done, regardless of the consequences. So, are you ready? Turn on the root account using NetInfo Manager, set the password to blank, then log in. After you see the “#” sign, type “rm -Rf /” (without the quotes), and say goodbye to your Mac. BSD is not quite as user-friendly as MS-DOS, it doesn’t even ask you “Are you Sure? (Y/N)”, nor does it say “Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?” It just quietly goes about its business of destroying your file system. After all, you did tell it to do that, and you’re root. By the way, once it’s done its deed, your Mac will not boot. It’ll be a good door stop. But someone might be able to recover your file system if they rebuilt all the inodes. What should you do?
• Get Permanent Eraser - Okay, so you’re paranoid, and you think someone (possibly the FBI) is going to come and look through your hard drive after you throw it out and look for evidence of wrongdoing. So you need to securely erase the file. How do you do that? You use a utility tool like Permanent Eraser, which is an open source software package freely available from Apple. All you do is to drag a file to the Permanent Eraser like you would drag it to the trash, except that Permanent Eraser would overwrite the file many many times with nonsense data before deleting it. That way, you can be sure it is deleted. Yes, the CIA can read stuff off of modern hard drives even after you overwrite it many many times, and military standard calls for overwriting seven times with random data before you can call a file “securely deleted”. But if you’re that paranoid, you shouldn’t have downloaded those sketchy files to begin with. You can also get equivalent tools for the PC, but you might have to pay for them.
• Just Plainly Throw It Away, Darn It - It’s amazing how many people go to the trouble of getting software like Permanent Eraser and then forget about that pesky printed copy that’s sitting in a binder in the office. That’s probably how the Enron guys and politicians destroying records got caught. So, throw out that darn folder before they find it! Drag the folder by one corner and put it over the trash can and drop it. A loud “Thud!” sound effect should play as you drop the folder into the trash.
• Get a Shredder - Worried that someone might dig it out of the trash can? Get a paper shredder. They’re great. They are only like $40 from Office Depot and they can shred like 20 sheets at once. All of those forms where you cheated taxes, feed them into the shredder before the IRS finds them! Of course, Tip Dude never cheats his taxes. But who knows about you?
• Get a Shredding Contractor - So you have so much record to destroy that you can’t spend the whole day feeding them into the shredder 20 pages at a time? You have client-confidential data, privileged information, or just private health records that you need to destroy? Look no further than Iron Mountain, which provides outsourced secure shredding services. They also provide records management and backup services, but why would you want that? We’re deleting stuff here. No need for backup. In fact, we have to delete all backups! Using a shredding contractor has the advantage that all of the paper waste is recycled, so you’re helping to make a greener earth by deleting stuff. Also, some firms may offer liability coverage: in the event that the data isn’t deleted and you end up being liable, you may be able to sue your shredding contractor. Way to go, ambulance chasers. Or should I say, data chasers?
• Burn It - You don’t trust the contractor? Think they might be spies from the KGB? You can always do the old reliable: just plain toss it into the fireplace and it’d go up in smoke. Warning: burning an open file may be illegal in many metropolitan areas. But if you have that much to hide, you probably don’t care about the no fire ordinance anyway… Don’t misconstrue this as Tip Dude advocating illegal behavior, however - Tip Dude recommends never deleting stuff! (And if you must, please delete stuff in a legal and environmentally responsible manner).

How do you delete things in your life?

• Top Ten Tips - Keeping Your Computer Clean (1)
• Top Ten Tips - Staying In Touch Cheaply (4)
• Top Ten Tips - Backing Up Your Computer (3)
• Top Ten Tips - Getting Rid Of Things (5)
• Top Ten Tips - Software For Less (0)