PrivaZer Discussion Thread

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

In the new version of the USB history cleanup,
we intend to give users the ability to select USB devices for which history of connections/disconnections has to be removed.

Please give us your opinion.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

interesting , could this be ccleaners successor or more , hmmm....might as well give it a spin and check what all the fuss is about

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

You guys may want to take a look at a program called USB Oblivion (free) for some tips.

The one thing I'll say, is that there are a lot of USB devices, and we definitely don't want anything that isn't just a USB/Drive Dock/SD card, etc... wiped. I have some attached USB TV Encoders that get wiped with USB Oblivion, requiring a driver re-install upon reboot. Just an FYI.

PD

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

Yes, please incoperate USB Oblivion into PrivaZer. Great little tool it is, really cleans out your USB mess that it leaves behind.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

Okay guys,
we will

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

Just discovered this thread and i find some interesting comments have already been submitted.
Is there any particular reason why i would use this rather than ccleaner which has a good reputation and to date has not caused many problems for users,well not for me anyway.
This program seems to be quite new and not thoroughly tested yet and so in that respect is behind ccleaner in terms of proven useability and effectiveness.

In my experience of using some of these tools there is a lot of snakeoil and junkware out there promising this and that to a level which is approaching maniacal in some instances and i do hope this product is not one of them.
I would be extremely interested to know what sets this apart from the multitude of cleaners and optimizers out there.

I like to know that a program especially one of this ilk has been thoroughly tested and not giving any issues of any description as they are dangerous if not used correctly .
I for one am not like most gullible users who just install these things in the blind hope that there computer will re-emerge from a dogmatic slumber upon use of these programs.
To be perfectly honest i have never seen any dramatic difference between using these or not and i find its mostly a placebo effect.
Anyhow i hope that privazer does not turn out to be just another souped up cleaner and proves to all that it is indeed a program worthy of install and use.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

this +1, i too will wait and see till its proven worthy

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

A few questions for PrivaZer

1. Does Privazer store/keep its cleaning logs. How are they removed/deleted?

2. Without disclosing any secrets, could you explain "in layman's terms" the following:

If I decide to erase a file let's say,
Wilder Forum.txt that has one sentence, "I like Wilders Forum" and use for it the USADoD 5220.22 method,
--------------------------------------------------------
USADoD 5220.22
3 passes overwriting algorithm:
1st pass-with zeroes,
2nd pass-with ones and
the last pass with randombytes.With all passes verification.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I would get three stages of the process.

1st pass.
My file would be renamed to 00000000000.000, and my sentence would become 00000000000000000.
2nd pass.
My file would be renamed to 11111111111.111, and my sentence would become 111111111111111111.
the last (3rd) pass with randombytes.
-----2#dTyvgb,;00))9y7'+-0 pyfd[[s[edE[w[]]\f']rf

My Wilders Forum.txt file was securely shredded.

Now. From your web-site:
http://privazer.com/

"Reset to zero free space with sdelete (use option -z to zero current drive free space)
Scan traces in free space with PrivaZer
PrivaZer should detect no trace in the free space.

How is Privazer going to react to the contents (2#dTyvgb,;00|]p9y....) of my erased/shredded file?
Overwrite the disk with zeros, to prevent recovery of erased files?

3. What is your opinion about a new concept for cleaners - identifying junk based on heuristics, like System Ninja offers?
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/System-Ninja.shtml

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

zmechys,
great questions but hard to answer without disclosing any secrets.

1. PrivaZer does not store any log of what it cleans.
2. Secret for now. We would suggest you to perform tests as explained on our website (Section "Performance tests" on homepage).
3. Heuristic is used by antiviruses. It leads in many cases to erroneous detections ( "False positive").
The result is that some programs can not be launched.
For (junk ?) files, "False positive" could be worst for the system since files are permanently removed !

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

One more question for "entertainment purpose only".

Let's say, a user erased 1 file on his/her computer using Privazer, set to use the
7 pass -- German VSITR method.
What are the chances that someone from the Privazer Team comes in the next day and "un-erases"/recovers the file on the computer, if the shredding method is known to that member?

Another question.

If Privazer changes/resets my sentence
"I like Wilders Forum" to "00000000000000000000", what is the need to overwrite my zero-ed sentence with the same zeros?
How would it make my deleted (reset to zeros) sentence "more shredded"?

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

1. When you shred files or wipe sectors on HDDs, you overwrite the content of the file/sector repeatedly with zeros, random bytes, etc. so that nobody can recover the content of the file/sector (we can not recover your data neither).

The VSITR data sanitization is a well-known method of 7-passes overwriting :

Pass 1: Writes a zero
Pass 2: Writes a one
Pass 3: Writes a zero
Pass 4: Writes a one
Pass 5: Writes a zero
Pass 6: Writes a one
Pass 7: Writes a random character

2. there is no need to overwrite with zeros a file already overwritten with zeros.
You are right and PrivaZer has implemented an optimized method to avoid this while cleaning up the free space.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

PrivaZer team can you add cleaning VMware & VirtualBox logs?

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

Can Privazer delete WebCache.dat file in AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache?

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

I have used PrivaZer for over a year now...
As I have previously said here at Wilders I really rate this program
I have new respect for this program and the dev's since they have joined the forum
It can't be easy sticking your head above the parapet not knowing whats gonna get fired at you
Thanks to all involved in this software and keep up the good work

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

PrivaZer,

What is the purpose of the of the Privazer files in the Export Folder:
user\AppData\Local\privazer\export\

The files have a lot of hex and binary coding and some
"[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSavePidlMRU\*]"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSavePidlMRU\mp3]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSavePidlMRU\txt]

Can I safely delete them?

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

It is the location of the registry backups of PrivaZer :
when you check "Save registry" in the scan list window of PrivaZer, it saves the registry modifications made during cleanups.

You can manage all backups when you choose "Restore" in the drop-down list in the main menu (in main window of PrivaZer).

See screenshots.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

Alright I gave this program a 5th try after it ate away my hard drive space the previous 4 times. I have say it's really good, glad that previous bug was fixed. The program doesn't crash anymore. Only request would be automatic updates.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

I did an interesting test with Privazer. I have portable browsers that I use inside of a truecrypt folder. And sometimes I put files in there too. So there was a folder with a few videos that I was going to post at a couple of websites. It had been in there for a long time so I copied it to my desktop and then deleted the one that was inside of my TC container. I wiped the free space of the TC folder with rwipe. Then I ran Recuva. Of the 8 video files that I had deleted, two were still showing.

Here is a screenshot of the videos that I deleted that are still on my desktop:



Here is a screenshot of Recuva after I ran a deepscan of my TC folder for videos:



So I then wiped the free space with Ccleaner and 2 versions of Eraser. They all failed to remove these 2 videos. So then I ran Privazer inside of the TC container. And guess what? Not only did it find the 2 videos listed in Recuva, it found all 8 of the videos that were in there. I tried several times to make a screenshot with Gadwin but Gadwin would not work while Privazer was open.

But anyway, I ran Recuva after that for videos, and it showed 100% clean.

Bravo Privazer!

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

I've installed Privazer on numerous computers with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 OS's. I have never had any issues like, "ate away my hard drive space", etc...
The speed of wiping out free space is amazing,
recovery impossible,
responses from Privazer to your - customer - feedback immediate,
eagerness to fix any glitches superb,
ability to talk directly to the developers of Privazer is more than visible.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

How about professional forensic software like EnCase, AccessData FTK or Winhex? It would be interesting to see the results.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

yes, we will.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

We will add this also.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

I am not sure if this feature is already there but if not I would like to have an option to save my cleaning preferences like we do in CCleaner and not to select/unselect items to clean every time.So that we can define our cleaning preference and then just hit one button to clean things.this will make it simple and easy to use every time.lesser the number of clicks more it will be used.

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

I did set once, and that's it. No more of my involvement.
"Click once and forget it".
Just check mark "Start Cleaning" and "Shutdown PC after cleaning", and go to bed.
Can CCleaner do it without writing some kind of utility for it?

 

Re: PrivaZer 1.7.1

again, Auto update via a service would be nice.