[House M.D™]

how do i delete traces of rats and illegal stuff on my computer

i stopped ratting

[Darksidefox]

Format your HDD and you're ready.

[xxleonderpxx]

Format your HDD and you're ready.

That wont be enough for fool data recovery tools.

You would need to rewrite over the drive MANY times with misc data.

At that point just spend 50$ on a new 1tb hard drive.

[NoodleBot™]

Both of their answers are incorrect.

If you're in a scenario where time is not an option than the first reply might be your best consideration.
However if if time is not of the essence, I would recommend to look into Dariks boot and nuke for example as a wiping method. As well as do some research about how data goes about being deleted and shredded.

[Armada]

Both of their answers are incorrect.

If you're in a scenario where time is not an option than the first reply might be your best consideration.
However if if time is not of the essence, I would recommend to look into Dariks boot and nuke for example as a wiping method. As well as do some research about how data goes about being deleted and shredded.

One of the best recommendations.

When it comes to Data destruction you need a File "bomber"

Unerstanding correct Data destruction procedure is vital.

To correctly wipe a file to the point of unrecovery, you need an app that will "Bomb" the file (rewrite it with straight 0's, save then rewrite with 1's, save and repeat multiple times.) This is the ONLY way to correctly wipe data without degausing the drive itself (Take a super strong magnet to the drives disk platters to remove the electrical signals from it.

This only covers the known files, you then must audit your temp and cache directories, registry and other system areas to ensure everything as been plucked from the system.

Total honesty, its a whole lot easier to just bomb the entire drive out and reformat if you want to ensure its all gone correctly.😑
- Pain in the ass I know, but sometimes to do it correctly, it takes the time.

[Esme]

To put it simply, either run DBAN or physically destroy the drive.

[DamienVC]

Set the HDD ablaze, that'd what I do if it contains dirt on myself.