Can tor be found on my PC after I delete the TBB folders

From torproject

How do I uninstall Tor? Tor Browser does not install itself in the classic sense of applications. You just simply delete the folder or directory named "Tor Browser" and it is removed from your system. If this is not related to Tor Browser, uninstallation depends entirely on how you installed it and which operating system you have. If you installed a package, then hopefully your package has a way to uninstall itself. The Windows packages include uninstallers. For Mac OS X, follow the uninstall directions. If you installed by source, I'm afraid there is no easy uninstall method. But on the bright side, by default it only installs into /usr/local/ and it should be pretty easy to notice things there.

That left me a little confused.


Comments


[9 Points] ziz1:

Can tor be found on my PC after I delete the TBB folders

Yes. When a file is deleted, the space it takes up on the disk is marked as unused, but the data that makes up the file is not erased and could be recovered with a disk forensics tool.

Try this method to wipe the free space on your disk:

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=8,00.asp

Also see this:

https://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/wiping-free-disk-space

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner


[8 Points] sapiophile:

In addition to the excellent point that /u/ziz1 raises, references to Tor Browser may also appear in locations that your operating system maintains, such as "Recent" folders, etc. If you're using Windows, one of the better ways to eliminate this kind of forensic information is to use CCleaner or a similar tool, and then be sure to follow it with at least one or two passes of free space overwriting, as ziz1 mentions.

However, I would say that even doing all this, it's likely that a skilled adversary would still be able to determine that you had once had and ran TBB, if you are using Windows or OSX. And even if you're using GNU/Linux or *BSD, eliminating all forensic evidence could potentially still be challenging.

If this is a concern for you, I would very, very highly recommend using Tails, as this kind of forensic "cleanliness" is one of its primary design goals. It also offers numerous security, anonymity and usability benefits for users, and includes right out of the gate many useful tools like a GPG applet, the Electrum Bitcoin Wallet, Tor Browser, etc.


[2 Points] Trappy_Pandora:

Yes. Please check out /r/tails if you want a safer experience.


[2 Points] Hank_Vendor:

I live by two rules in my life:

if she has hands bigger than mine, she's a dude

and

the delete key is purely symbolic