Permanently deleting emails and files

This is my first time posting so I hope I don't screw this up...Does anyone have any advice on how to permanently delete emails and files? I am running on OS X 10.3.9 and have deleted files in my trash using the secure empty trash function, however, I have a large number of emails I have deleted in Mail. Are these permenently deleted as well? Secondly, is some of the shareware or freeware out there such as Shredit any good? I have a concern that someone is going to try and retrieve deleted data off my computer sometime soon and I really don't want any emails/files showing up that I have deleted.

it depends on you environment.

where your home folder lives. what the backup jobs are. what type of email account is setup. you may be attempting to delete something that exists in more than one place.

delete email

MacsWork said:

it depends on you environment.

where your home folder lives. what the backup jobs are. what type of email account is setup. you may be attempting to delete something that exists in more than one place.

Click to expand...

I clearly know less than I thought. Is there a simple way of making sure everything is deleted or do I need someone significantly smarter than myself to get the job done?

If you are using Mail as your email client and you account is setup as a pop3 account not leaving a copy on the server and your mac is not remotely backed up and your home folder is local then your mail lives in /Users/username/Library/Mail. Using the erase deleted messages from the mailbox menu will get rid of your mail. Will it be recoveerable from a drive recovery company,...possibly. Your company on the other handprobably not. Unless the above criteria is false.