Undelete 5

Even though Windows has included a Recycle Bin for the past 10 years it's still annoyingly easy to accidentally delete a file.

The Recycle Bin can't handle files or folders over a certain size, and files that are automatically deleted, say when an application is uninstalled, are also not covered by the Recycle Bin.

However, Undelete 5 promises to rescue deleted files. The program works by replacing the Recycle Bin with its own Recovery Bin, which automatically 'catches' files as they are deleted, including files that the Recycle Bin would not normally be able to keep an eye on.

The bin can be told to exclude certain files or folders, and can be set to use only a certain proportion of available hard disk space.

It also automatically tracks versions of Office documents so it's possible to right-click on such a file and recover previous versions. It can also pick up some files that were deleted before it was installed.

This is a powerful tool and, although it's not cheap, it's worthwhile for anyone who finds themselves often having to recover lost data.