Review: Diskeeper Undelete 5 utility software

Since Windows 95, the operating system has included a Recycle Bin, which would catch files as they were deleted, allowing users a second chance, in case the first was an accident. But it's not foolproof, and once files are gone from the bin, they're really gone.

Undelete can, in theory, get them back even after this: because of the way files on a computer work, they're not really deleted until they're overwritten with something else.

Version 5 of Undelete adds support for Windows Vista, and includes the Recovery Bin that was in previous versions. This sounds a lot like the recycle bin, to be sure, but it can also catch files that the recycle bin wouldn't have, and is more powerful, allowing searching and looking through folders.

Also new is version recovery, which keeps track of older versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, allowing the user to go back to an earlier edit, which is particularly useful for careless journalists, among many others.

If you're confident, you can turn the Recovery Bin off, and Undelete will still be able to recover deleted files – in fact, the installation process includes an emergency option, so that you can pull back files that were deleted before the program was even installed. Installation in general was very easy, as was using the program.

Sadly, this version is compatible only with Windows XP, and not Vista. The company tells us a Vista-compatible edition is on the way.