How to use Heidi Eraser permanent deletion tool

Previously we looked at How to download and install the Heidi Eraser permanent deletion tool, so now we are going to look at how we use it to permanently delete files. There are generally two methods that can be used.

Method 1 – deleting files and folders

Locate the file or folder you wish to delete.

Right Click the file to produce the following menu and select Eraser > Erase

There will be a slight pause and the document will disappear. This document has been permanently deleted from your hard drive and will not appear in your recycle bin.

You can also select multiple files and permanently delete them in the same way.

Method 2 – Permanently deleting the contents of the recycle bin

If you have deleted files normally they will go to the recycle bin within Windows. If you empty the recycle bin normally the files will still remain on your hard drive. Therefore, to permanently delete and remove the files from your recycle bin do the following :

Right Click the recycle bin and select Eraser > Erase.

The files will now be removed from your recycle bin and permanently deleted from your hard drive.

How to download and install the Heidi Eraser permanent deletion tool

When you delete a file on a Windows computer, it is only deleted from the operating system. Unfortunately, the file still remains on the computer’s hard disk and can still be recovered with the right tools.

This may not matter too much with your current computer but if your computer was stolen or sold, it may make you a little nervous to think they can access your previous files.
Thankfully, there is software available that will permanently delete files from your hard drive. One of the best free tools is Heidi Eraser. It’s easy to install and very easy to use so here is how you install it.
Heidi eraser installation process
Go to http://eraser.heidi.ie and go to the download section.

Select the latest stable build from the download section and save it to your PC.
Find the Eraser icon and double click it to start the installation.

Click Next

Accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next.

Select the Typical installation option.

Select Install

Click Finish.
You’re all done – Now click here to find instructions on How to use Heidi Eraser.

How to remove single or all bookmarks from a Word document

Whilst in the process of consolidating several documents (via copy/paste) I realised I had a huge number of unwanted bookmarks in my final document.

It would have taken a long time (or more time than I would like to spend) removing them one by one so I looked for a method of removing them all in one shot.

As you may not need to remove all of the bookmarks and would like to retain some, I have also included some instructions for removing bookmarks on an individual basis.

Manually remove single bookmarks

If you have a few bookmarks that you wish to remove, you can manually remove them one at a time.
Here’s how it’s done.

1.  Open word and go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and select Bookmark.

2.  All of the bookmarks contained in the current document will be listed in the Bookmark window. This list can be ordered by name or location. It should be noted that you cannot select more than one bookmark so if you want to delete all bookmarks, please see the instructions later on in this post.

3.  Select the bookmark you wish to remove and click the Delete button.
Remove all bookmarks in a document using VBA
Some documents can contain many (even hundreds) of bookmarks so it would be very laborious to remove them one by one. Thankfully they can all be removed in one go using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) code.
Here is how it’s done.
1.  Open the word document which contains the bookmarks.
2.  To view your bookmarks go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and select Bookmark.

You will see your list of bookmarks

Close this window by clicking the X (top right) or the Cancel button.
2. Press Alt+F11 to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window
3.  Click Module from the insert tab.

4.  Insert the following VBA code in the Module Window
Sub removebookmarks()
Dim bkm As Bookmark
For Each bkm In ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
bkm.Delete
Next bkm
End Sub
5. Click Run button or press F5 to apply VBA directly and then close the window.

6. When you view the Bookmarks again you will see they have all been removed.

DHCP logs filling up hard drive – Can I delete DHCP log files ?

Today’s challenge involved a Domain Controller (DC) with a hard drive that was gradually filling up. Domain Controllers shouldn’t really increase in this way so some investigation was needed.

The obvious search for large files proved fruitless so I began to look at Event Viewer. The errors that were present pointed towards an issue with DHCP. See below.

“The DHCP service encountered the following error when backing up the database : An error occurred while accessing the DHCP database. Look at the DHCP server event log for more information on this error”.

The next step was to locate the DHCP logs which can be found in %windir%\System32\Dhcp (C:\Windows\System32\Dhcp). When I came to this location I noticed the whole directory was full of old log files and a ‘Backup folder’. Inside the backup folder was another folder called ‘old’. In total the whole Dhcp directory equalled 17GB.
Having checked the DHCP directory on our other DC I could see that the folder should be around 20 MB not 17 GB so I knew this was the reason the drive was filling up. After some Googling I came to learn that DHCP writes to log files before it commits them to the database, therefore, if for some reason it can’t write to the database it will continue creating logs.
My initial thought was “Can I delete DHCP log files ?”. I believe the answer is ‘Yes’ but in the end I didn’t need to because I found the root of the problem and made the server rectify the issue.

The solution
1. Restart DHCP server service
2. Restart DHCP client service
3. Do a manual backup of DHCP by going to DHCP on the server > Open the DHCP management console > Right click the server name in the tree view on the left and choose backup. It will default to C:\Windows\System32\Dhcp\backup as the location to back up to. This is fine so click OK.
You will see that the logs have now cleared and there are no further errors in Event Viewer.

How to edit the hosts file in Windows 7

In windows XP it was possible to edit the hosts file directly by going to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and editing in notepad. However, in Windows 7 it’s not so easy.

I’m guessing you have landed on this page because you know what the hosts file is and want to change it. However, for those that are unsure – the hosts file is where you can manually enter a hostname and pair it with an IP address, thereby bypassing any DNS server. This is useful for IT professionals who can be faced with complex routing scenarios.

To follow the normal Windows XP method on Windows 7 you would have to make the relevant folders visible. These folders are hidden by default as they are system folders.

To show hidden folders in Windows 7, press the ALT key while in Explorer to bring up the File menu. Click on Tools and then Folder Options.



Click on the View tab and then click on the Show hidden files, folders, and drives radio button under Hidden files and folders.



When you have confirmed by clicking OK go to the hosts file at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc.



When you try and edit the Hosts file it will not work and you will get a message saying you do not have permission to save in this location. “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.txt. You don’t have permission to save in this location. Contact the administrator to obtain permission”.



In order to edit it, you have to click on Start, type in Notepad and then right-click on Notepad and choose Run as Administrator.



Now navigate to the drivers/etc folder again and make sure to choose All files for File Types otherwise you won’t see the Hosts file.


Once the hosts file is open in administrator mode via notepad you are free to edit the file as you wish. Save all the changes and they will be applied.

How to set up a VPN connection in Windows 7

VPNs are the preferred method for allowing users to connect to their corporate networks from a remote location. Previously we looked at how to create a VPN connection using Windows XP, so today we will do the same for Windows 7.

Create the VPN

Open up ‘Network and Sharing Center’ on the PC. This can be done in several ways :

Method 1

Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and sharing center.

Method 2

Go to Start > and type in ‘Network’.

The network and sharing center will be suggested. Left click and it will open.

Click on ‘Set up a new connection or network’.

Choose connect to a workplace.

Select ‘Use my Internet connection (VPN)’.

On the ‘Connect to a Workplace’ screen, Enter the internet address (provided by your system administrator’) and name of connection (This is usually your company name).

Put a tick in ‘Don’t connect now; just set it up so I can connect later’.

Click Next.

Enter your username and password (Provided by your system administrator) and click Create.

The connection is now setup. Click Close.

Your VPN connection has now been configured.

Change the gateway and login settings

By default this connection will route all of your traffic via your VPN. If you want only the traffic required for the VPN to be transmitted over the VPN and all other traffic/connections to be unaffected, you will need to alter a setting on the adapter.

Open your network connections by going to Start > type ‘View network’

Select the ‘View network connections option that appears’.

Right click your VPN connection and go to Properties

On the options tab Untick ‘Include windows logon domain’ and go to the networking tab.

Highlight the ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) item and select Properties.

On the properties window select advanced.

On the advanced TCP/IP settings windows untick ‘Use default gateway on the remote network.

Connecting the VPN

Open your network connections (As shown earlier in this post).

Right click your VPN icon and select ‘Connect’.

This will open a login window.

Enter your username and password and click connect. It will begin the authentication process.

The network connection in your Network connections window will now show as connected.

Your VPN is now active and ready to use.

3 ways to open and view network connections in Windows XP

There are several ways to access the network connections on a Windows XP machine. Therefore, as it is a common question I thought I would demonstrate the 3 main ways to view this window.

Method 1
Go to your network icon in the System Tray (lower right corner of the screen)

Right click on the icon and go to ‘Open Network Connections’.

Method 2

Go to Start button > and select ‘Run’ or press ‘Win key + R to open a run dialogue window.

In the run window field type in ‘Control netconnections’.

Method 3

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > network connections (if in classic view)

or

2.Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet Connections > Network Connections (if in category view)

All of the above methods will take you to the ‘Network Connections’  :