Recover Accidentally Deleted Files on your Computer

What should you do if you deleted a file accidentally? First off, stop any and all activity on your computer (as much as you can). Downloading files and running programs can overwrite deleted files, ruining any chance of resurrecting them.

Then download a program like FreeUndelete, which helps you recover deleted files. Ideally, you want to download the utility to a separate hard disk or removable media like a USB drive.

Once that's done, the program is very simple to use. Just select a hard drive that you want to scan for delete files and click the Scan button.

You'll get back a list of files that have been deleted, which you can filter based on name. Simply select the ones you want to bring back and hit the Undelete button.

FreeUndelete supports NTFS, FAT32, and FAT16 file systems. For the lay person, that means you (most likely).