Kim Komando today....(bless her heart!)

1.) When you delete something, it stays right where it was, but its location codes go into the trash bin. It's those codes that get disconnected from their original files, so that you can't locate that file again later, but it's still there until it becomes overwritten by a new file which takes its place in what has now become officially "available space" on your hard drive. Recovery programs can recover the original codes to reconnect you with your "lost" files, but only if those haven't yet been overwritten by another newer file using those segments of the drive. If you empty your Recycle Bin, the game's over, and your stuff is gone, because you've just thrown out those location codes - unless you also have copies of them in a back-up drive or partition elsewhere.

1.) - (continued) - Kim mentions two examples of programs that can wipe out files permanently, and probably will cost you. Try FileMenu Tools from Lopesoft
which has a selection of free tools including an industrial-strength shredder that can shred a file with the same kind of methods used by the military. (I never buy a program if there's an equal or better freebie out there in cyberspace!)

4.) "Always shut down your computer at night" - There's still one very sensible reason to do that - security! The bad guys can't trigger a remote invasion of your computer if both it and your modem are switched off at nights when you aren't using them. Call me paranoid, but it works for me!

5.) "You'll know when you have a virus" - No, Sweetcheeks, you won't! Kim is right - they are very sneaky these days. I have three different security programs, each specific to one kind of risk and each very good at dealing with its own specialty. And don't believe stories telling you that you can't run more than one security program at a time, because they may conflict. Peace was restored to the valley some time ago, and now, they all respect each other's right to be here doing their own things together, and you can and should have more than one. Why? because each is best at usually only one thing, and so you need something for the other things. A program that is optimized to grab viruses may be allowing spyware or rootkits into your system. Similarly, one that grabs those may not be finding viruses. Get the picture? So shop around, and read the "fine print". All security programs are NOT created equal. If you need somewhere to start from, begin by Googling for the "Top Ten Security Programs of 2014" and compare their features and costs. And please remember that some of those offer a free version with fewer features, but which the experts claim will give you equal or better protection to some that cost money.
So you don't need to spend big bucks to be protected. You just need to be smart about it.