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Despite the fact that East-Tech's GUI makes you perform extra steps to send a file to oblivion with this great freebie, it's worth using for those of us who cannot use Tolvanen's Eraser. When East-Tech's freebie gets through with a file, not only is the filename totally destroyed - plus the extension, but it makes up to nineteen entries from the file, all named with a jumble of letters, and all of them bearing a .tmp extension. This freebie works exactly as does East-Tech's flagship eraser, Eraser 2000. (There is another eraser named CyberScrub, which is exactly the same as Eraser 2000. Why the two programs are identical and sold under dirfferent names I don't know. But CyberScrub does cost $30 MORE then Eraser 2000.) Another eraser which scrambles file names as does Eraser 2000 is Jetico's BCWipe. You can find a test of it HERE If you can't use Tolvanen's Eraser, either East-Tech or BCWipe is the the eraser you should use. They leave no tell-tale file names behind, which would force you to use a tool such as DirSnoop to purge the names of those shredded files. With either, the East-Tech freebie, or one of the shareware erasers - Eraser 2000 or BCWipe, you can forget about having to overwrite your files with other files in order to cover up those file names, or to have to buy DirSnoop to purge the names. One last word, East-Tech 2000 is a more vesatile product than BCWipe. Okay, let's start from scratch with a single file as an example of what results from shredding it with East-Tech's Erasers. Before we go any further, let me assure you that any leftover file names from previous tests were all purged with DirSnoop. What you will be seeing after the erasure is totally from erasing this single file. Here are the hoops East-Tech makes you jump through to use this freebie. (They're probably hoping you will move up to their paid shareware version which has more features. There's even a link to it in the freebie interface.) (The joke about these people is they have three versions of their eraser product. Their prices are $19.95, $29.95 and $39.95. It's ridiculous to emasculate a full fledge eraser program and then sell off parts at an ascending price scale.) The following sequence of captures shows all the steps from the start. Selecting the file to be erased
The first East-Tech interface you encounter.
Type of passes to employ.
There is no indication of how many passes are going to be made. The "More security" button takes you to East-Tech's Web site and tries to convince you that their sharware version is more secure. It is, but only in the sense that it has more features, such as wiping free space, et. While we have no idea of the number of passes made by this freebie, doublechecking with our tools shows clearly that there is no information available to be gotten either by Directory Investigator, nor by File Recovery. There are very few people who need ever worry about having a Magnetic Remenance test done on their disks. It takes time, equipment, expertise and a lot of money. If you aren't a terrorist suspect, or don't have a spiteful mate who has mucho money to spend on wild goose chases like having a Magnetic Remenance test done on your disk in hopes of hitting you up for a divorce settlement of millions, you should not be worried about using only a few good wipes of a file with any eraser. As our freebie tools show, there is NO information to be recovered after a few wipes with most erasers, save for the name of the file which was erased. This in itself could be damaging if the remaining file name itself were not somehow purged. However, with our freebie tools of File Recovery and Directory Investigator, you can check your own files to see if there are any smoking guns. True, you do need two hard drives to do this with File Recovery, because it must not be installed on the drive you want to search. However, I have found no such limitation in the use of Directory Investigator. Back to work - Here we have yet another built in delay.
Jeesh! As Count Basie used to say, "Once more once!"
Now the exciting part! Here is/are the result(s) of shredding that single file - all nineteen "results" created by East-Tech. This really serves to muddle the situation of recovery quite well. Also, note the zero file size. If you are still skeptical, examine the file - or I should say, all nineteen of them, with Directory Investigator. You'll find out that Directory Investigator cannot find an valid cluster number with which to get a handle on the file. In addition, File Recovery, in either of its settings to find either lost files or lost data, cannot come up with anything.
Let some nosey snoop figure out this one. : ) I personally think this is the best eraser, short of Tolvanen's Eraser - IF his eraser does what it is touted to do. With this one, there is no need to clean up after it by using a tool like DirSnoop to purge the remaining file name. Nor do you have to copy other junk to the directory to overwrite the renaming file name. On top of that, the price is right - like in "FREE" Go HERE for this freebie gem. Go back to menu on HOME page. - END -
Copyright: bluejay@cotse.net |
