Software Forum

I've been using Webroot's Windows Washer for years, prior to installing Ace Utilities, and I'd hoped Ace would "replace" the functionally of Windows Washer.

I find, however, that though Ace has a "Secure Wipe" function in the "Protect" interface, The "Erase Your History" function mentions: "Delete", "Clear", and "Erase", but gives NO indication of a "Secure Wipe", or setting for # of "passes, as in the "Protect" interface; nor does it "Wipe" File Slack Space, as does the Webroot program.

I find the absense of a secure wipe function in the "Erase Your History" utility, to be a rather odd omission???

Leigh

Hi Leigh

First, Ace Utilities (Protect) functions don't "Wipe" anything at all! There is a difference in wiping and erasing. Some programmers may use the two terms interchangeably, but other don't. Now, you mentioned "File Slack Space" is not wiped in Ace Utilities, but that's the same as "Free Space” is being wiped. So, Ace Utilities does wipe drive "Free Space!"

Hi Cal,

To clarify: The Ace "Protect" / "Securely Delete Files" function States:
"Permanently" Delete Files", -----and allows up to 10 overwrites, so the files cannot be recovered.

The "Clean Up" / "Erase Your History" / "Internet Explorer" function States: that it will "Clean" the selected items, and each item uses the words "Delete" or "Clear". (These are terms used by Ace Utilities, not something I made up).

I'm not nit-picking the nomenclature. My cocern is that the "Erase Your History" function appears to simply delete files, and does not indicate that it "Securely Deletes" them with multiple overwrites in the manner that the "Protect" function does .

Leigh

Leigh wrote:Hi Cal,


I'm not nit-picking the nomenclature. My cocern is that the "Erase Your History" function appears to simply delete files, and does not indicate that it "Securely Deletes" them with multiple overwrites in the manner that the "Protect" function does .

Leigh

The "Protection" area has two functions:

1. To securely delete any files that a user may put in the "Delete Files Window" and yes, a user can set the number of passes that are made. These files after being securely deleted should not be recoverable!

2. The "Wipe Deleted Files Data" function is used to wipe the recycle bin and also wipe free drive space.

3. Furthermore, if a user likes they can use the "Erase Your History" to do just that. From my understanding in reading it through again it saying that everything is erased to the point of no return. A user can't be tracked as to what sites they visited, cookies, etc.!

I hope this helps.

Hi Le**h

Some of the beauties of ACE Utilities are; its efficient size,blazing speed and very safe operation...

Adding a full fledged wiping utility would'nt add much size or slow ACE down much but it would provide an avenue for an "errant experimenter" or a "chronic(accident-prone) button-pusher" to destroy all the data on a drive down to the plastic..Above all and best of all ACE is ,in my opinion, the safest Utility of its kind around..

There are many good "Freeware/Shareware specialty tools for xxxooo121212 wiping and freeing slack space..First I tune the "F.A.T. free cluster size,based on usage trends of the particular machine, to a "best" size..Minimize slack space..

Here are Some good tools I use for different wiping jobs;

1."Necrofile"
http://www.necrocosm.com
For Drive wiping ..

2.BCWipe(BCWipepd in DOS)
http://www.jetico.com
For Right click wiping of files rather than deleting..
and for DOS-wiping drives/partitions/etc b4 a Format..

3. "Eraser"
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
Eraser has a good GUI to work from..

I find these three (and a tissue) take care of all my wiping needs..

Jazz..........

Hey Jazz, how are things these days? Yes, I've used the same apps you've suggested too.

You can zero fill your HDD with utilities put out by the drive manufacterer to wipe a drive also. Usually done in dos mode.

shox wrote:You can zero fill your HDD with utilities put out by the drive manufacterer to wipe a drive also. Usually done in dos mode.

Hey Shox, can you further explain what you mean and give a "For instance" with a website of a Manufacture???

Sure. Most modern hard drives have utilities that come with retail hard drives to Format, partition, transition (move your data), setup your drives in a few different ways. One of the nice things these utilities usually come with are drive performance, and or, more in depth utilities like low level formatting or "Zero fill"(usually the same thing). You could/should do this before you sell a drive or the drive in a system that is sold. SeaTools is Seagate. Maxblast has the tools for Maxtor. Western Digital has theirs on the website. Alternatively, Eraser works well with many drives when you use the "Boot and Nuke" funtion from a floppy. Does essentially the same thing.

Eraser
---------------------------
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/


Seagate Sea Tools
---------------------------
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/


Maxtor MaxBlast
---------------------------
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downlo ... blast3.htm


Western Digital Tools
----------------------------
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp


Generic Tools from many manufacturers
----------------------------
http://www.drivermuseum.com/files/utils/hd_u.html



Google Search
-----------------------------
link

GREAT, sounds like a WINNER!!!