Hello, Can someone tell me how you can go into your hard drive and retrieve an old deleted e-mail and or files? I recently had someone get on my computor and they got all my passwords for e-mail accounts as well as pulled up and copied some old deleted items from months ago.Also how can you prevent someone from doing that.
Call them a Hacker?
Thanks John

there are programmes around that'll help find deleted files on your hard drive.

how did this person get onto your computer and get the info? if they're on a different PC then I should think your firewall is not doing its job

They are in the same household and told me they are very smart, but will not tell me how they did it.
So got any knowledge on this?

is the main admin account password protected?

Yes

are they actually turning on your PC and getting the info or are you all connected through a router or something similar?

How can you recover deleted files, e-mails etc without using a special program?

It depends alot on what files and what program created them. Some ideas here:

Emergency file recovery requires more than the correct tool, though. It requires knowing how file deletion occurs, and what you have to do to maximize the chances of a successful recovery.

So the first rule is: STOP USING THAT COMPUTER IMMEDIATELY! THIS MINUTE! RIGHT NOW! Use another computer to get the recovery tool you will need.

RECOVERING DELETED FILES

There is also this free program that has had good success:

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

Thanks, How would I find out if any of these type programs have been installed on my computer?

I combined these threads as they seemed to me to concern the same issue.

You are wondering how someone else could have recovered deleted data on your computer?

If the above programs are installed they would be listed under All Programs.

You could also do a search from start > search

Type in the suspected program name.