8 replies to this topic

[chembiophys]

first of all, ive been using ccleaner without any errors or bugs. it seemed to be an "effective" and very convenient little software.

however, i recently installed tuneup utilities 2006 and its undelete program can recover all the temporary internet files which ccleaner deleted with NSA "secure deletion" method.

is this normal?

win xp home sp2, ms ie 6,

[JDPower]

chembiophys, on Aug 3 2006, 06:20 PM, said:

first of all, ive been using ccleaner without any errors or bugs. it seemed to be an "effective" and very convenient little software.

however, i recently installed tuneup utilities 2006 and its undelete program can recover all the temporary internet files which ccleaner deleted with NSA "secure deletion" method.

is this normal?

win xp home sp2, ms ie 6,

I tried the free trial of TuneUp Utilities and noticed the same thing. Just assumed it had maybe recovered just the file names and the files themselves were in a bad state but can't say for certain as i didn't look into it any further I'm afraid.

[chembiophys]

in my case, most of the files from temporary internet files folder were in good condition and perfectly recoverable.

im not being paranoid about my privacy. im just wondering why it says secure deletion when it's really not. or maybe the secure deletion method only works on the deleted files in the recycle bin and not on the internet files and cookies.

[fredvries]

If you really want to ‘destroy' deleted files you can use a program called Restoration. Normally used to recover accidentally deleted files it has also a function (use button top left) to completely delete any trace of files.

Restoration is downloadable here

[JDPower]

fredvries, on Aug 3 2006, 09:21 PM, said:

If you really want to ‘destroy' deleted files you can use a program called Restoration. Normally used to recover accidentally deleted files it has also a function (use button top left) to completely delete any trace of files.

Restoration is downloadable here

Hmmm, used Restoration and it found similar recoverable data to what TuneUp did. Seemingly all stuff that should have been securely deleted by CCleaner - cookies, temp internet files, web images etc. I have CCleaner set to overwrite 3 times which I know isn't the most secure but for the last few months I've been using Eraser (set to overwrite 3 times too) instead of right click>delete and it didn't seem to find any files that I had erased using Eraser.
(On the down side I tried Restorations securely delete all restoreable files and it caused all manner of problems on my computer, Firefox was broke, internet wouldn't connect. Luckily a system restore fixed most of the problems it seems though Firefox lost all its settings so having to go through everything to try to get FF back to how I like it. Won't be using that again )

Sooo, does the secure delete function in CCleaner actually work? I know its a relatively new, additional feature to the program and I'm not being at all critical, would just like to know/understand.

[JDPower]

Quote

(On the down side I tried Restorations securely delete all restoreable files and it caused all manner of problems on my computer, Firefox was broke, internet wouldn't connect. Luckily a system restore fixed most of the problems it seems though Firefox lost all its settings so having to go through everything to try to get FF back to how I like it. Won't be using that again mad.gif )

Correction, its completely ballsed up my Firefox as it won't save ANY of my settings now

[TheFiresInTheSky]

it all depends on how many times it is over written.
Ccleaner only overwrites up to 7 times.
others overwrite up to 35 and 50 times.

[Greenknight]

I have HD Cleaner, it seems to have no limit to the number of times it overwrites. I've never used it for that, though.

[hazelnut]

Ewido has a file shredder built in which will overwrite 10 times, it's called paranoid mode (Their words, not mine)