Permanently erasing e-mails

I have two e-mail accounts "gmail" and "hotmail". Is there any way to delete in a permanent manner e-mails that I do not want? My concern is that if I delete them from within the e-mail programs probably the operating system losses the reference of where to find the messages but the messages may remain in my hard disk and some one with the proper tools may recover them. I want them completely unrecoverable.
Thanks for the help,
miguelC

There's no option to securely erase e-mail like there is with the Finder's trash. However, keep in mind that those e-mails have been passed across numerous machines in clear text and, much like a postcard, could have been read anywhere along the way. Plus they're not encrypted on the server, and with GMail and (especially) Hotmail being high-profile targets for hackers, that means that anyone who can hack into your account can read everything. Add to that the fact that your GMail account never deletes anything, putting it in eternal storage in the "All Mail" folder.
All that understood, securely deleting mail is not really worth the effort. If you're selling or otherwise getting rid of the machine, securely erase the hard drive before parting with it. Otherwise, don't bother. If you absolutely insist on bothering, use Disk Utility to periodically securely erase the free space on your hard drive.
If you have e-mail that is truly confidential, it should not be sent unless the e-mail itself is encrypted, in which case secure erasure becomes unnecessary.

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Permanently erasing e-mails

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