Patent ID: 8200639

Claim:
A software method for scrubbing data files, each file having an associated filename and a plurality of blocks of data stored on a computer storage medium, one of said blocks of data containing an end-of-file indicator (EOF), said method comprising the steps of: soliciting user-input of a plurality of user-selected file names; overwriting all of the plurality of blocks of data including said EOF block corresponding to each of said files a user-defined number of times; removing all references to the overwritten data files in an operating system environment, including all references in an operating system recent file list, short cut, and operating system registry; renaming each overwritten file by the substeps of randomly selecting one from the plurality of user-selected file names, modifying said randomly selected filename to have the same number of characters as said associated filename, renaming one of said overwritten files with said randomly selected and modified filename, and repeating said randomly selecting, modifying and renaming substeps for each of said overwritten files; and deleting the renamed and overwritten data files; whereby utmost security of the scrubbed data is assured.