PrivaZer Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by The_PrivaZer_Team, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. takiabtom

    takiabtom Registered Member

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    Thinking about it maybe I am asking the impossible. In the example there are many .etl files called "waasmedic.'datestamp'.etl" and thus I assume every file is unique and thus cannot be purged as there is only one version.
    I have tried editing line 13 to read "waasmedic*.etl[+4 days]" and that does not do it
    So is there a way o_O?
     
  2. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    We will investigate.
     
  3. Omnimaxus

    Omnimaxus Registered Member

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    Am re-posting this (since @The_PrivaZer_Team has been active, but didn't reply to my question) ...

    ******************************

    @The_PrivaZer_Team (and/or anyone else who can help answer this):

    Two questions, please ...

    1) When in Vivaldi, I use the "Save As" window. What option do I uncheck in PrivaZer to preserve the window position of the "Save As" window?

    2) What option do I uncheck in PrivaZer to make sure the recent apps list in the Start menu (I use Start 10 from Stardock) does NOT get erased?

    Hope I get a reply soon! Thanks!

    ******************************

    Also - I have tried e-mailing @The_PrivaZer_Team at support@privazer.com, but no reply. :( Just FYI ... :thumb:

    (I have e-mailed the support@privazer.com e-mail in the past, too, but never got any replies - does anyone check it?)
     
  4. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    I have read your email @Omnimaxus and your post here.
    So far, no time to test so we preferred not to answer if we do not have the right answer to give you. :blink:

    But here is what we can say :

    1) this has to do with Shellbags or its an option in Vivaldi. We need to investigate further.
    2) we need to test Start10.

    I keep you posted when we know more.
     
  5. Omnimaxus

    Omnimaxus Registered Member

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    Thank you! :thumb:
     
  6. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    Hello @Omnimaxus,

    1. If you want to preserve the folder view when you do a "save as" in your web browser, you have to preserve the Shellbag for that folder.
      Thus, you can untick the "remove all" option for the Shellbag cleanup in PrivaZer
      and keep the cleanup of "references to old directories" ticked as shown below.
      (FYI, this is the default option of PrivaZer)

      If you want still want to delete the Shellbags, except for the "save as" folder you can use our dedicated tool :
      Shellbag AnalyZer+Cleaner available here :
      https://privazer.com/download-shellbag-analyzer-shellbag-cleaner.php

      upload_2021-6-18_10-47-21.png


    2. Concerning the most popular apps list in your start menu that you want to preserve, you should not tick "Userassist (Remove all)" as shown below
      an keep "Userassist (Invalid shortcuts)" ticked. (FYI, this is the default option of PrivaZer)
      upload_2021-6-18_10-47-43.png
    Hope it helps you.

    Fladen,
     

    Attached Files:

  7. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Learn something new every day about PrivaZer.
     
  8. Omnimaxus

    Omnimaxus Registered Member

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    @The_PrivaZer_Team

    First, thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

    Second, I am sorry, but what you said to do in your reply didn't work. :( Let me explain, please.

    I did a clean reinstall of PrivaZer. I confirmed that the default options you described were the same.

    I ran PrivaZer. See below pictures, please ...

    aaaaaaaaaa.jpg bbbbbbbbbb.jpg

    The Start Menu got partially erased. Why it was that way - I do not know. Not sure.

    You can also see what I mean by the "Save As" window. That is the window I'm talking about.

    Before I ran PrivaZer, I had it set to the middle. After, it went back to the upper left corner in Vivaldi.

    Third, the question is, how do we stop these things from happening after using PrivaZer?

    I hope this response (and the pictures) are helpful. Thanks!!!
     
  9. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    Hallo @Omnimaxus,

    for the position of the "save as" window of Vivaldi, you have to untick CIDsizeMRU :
    upload_2021-6-22_10-11-45.png
     
  10. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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  11. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    Concerning the list of the most recent used apps, I've just retested the cleanup of userassist with the "remove all" option as here :

    upload_2021-6-22_12-57-13.png


    Initial STart10 list :
    upload_2021-6-22_12-56-13.png

    After the userassist cleanup with the "remove all" option + A RESTART of the PC
    the list is empty :

    upload_2021-6-22_16-5-26.png
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2021
  12. Omnimaxus

    Omnimaxus Registered Member

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    @The_PrivaZer_Team

    One, THANKS for replying re: Vivaldi and the "Save As" window.

    Two, again, thanks re: the Start menu, BUT ... just to CLARIFY - I do not want the items erased from the app list.

    If I do NOT want the apps erased from the list, should I leave the "Userassist" option UNCHECKED?

    That's it - once you reply, I will test everything out and report back here. THANKS!!!
     
  13. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    To preserve your list of recent used apps :
    - User assist (invalid shortcuts) can be ticked
    - User assist (remove all) should be unticked

    That's the default in PrivaZer.
    Ok?
     
  14. Omnimaxus

    Omnimaxus Registered Member

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    @The_PrivaZer_Team

    Everything works now! Unticking the "CIDsizeMRU" option did the trick. Now the "Save As" window retains its position as set by myself.

    Same goes for the app list in the Start Menu. Not sure why it didn't work before (?), but now it does. Apps don't get erased now. Excellent.

    Thank you! Keep up the great work!
     
  15. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    @takiabtom
    please download the new v4.0.26 just released.
    It should make easier to include the custom paths you wanted to include to cleanups.

    Bette now? :)
     
  16. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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  17. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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  18. takiabtom

    takiabtom Registered Member

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    Thankyou very much. I can now select directories from the pop up and datestamped deletions appear fine.
     
  19. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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  20. Nanobot

    Nanobot Registered Member

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    @The_PrivaZer_Team

    Please consider to include the following two commands as options/settings in one of the next releases.

    1) Cleans old transactional metadata on the next mount.
    info:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-resource

    2) Deletes the Update Sequence Number (USN) change journal.
    info:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-usn

    additionally, include the option to set the maximum size and allocation delta of the USN Journal, example of this you can see in everything search utility here. https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/options/#ntfs
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2021
  21. tgraf66

    tgraf66 Registered Member

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    Hi, I hope this isn't too much of an ignorant question, but I wanted to ask again about an Index Attributes thing. I was running the program, and on a whim, I checked the history as it was running. I noticed that there were several lines like this...

    "Unable to clean up INDEX attributes in MFT (2) for C:\ProgramData\USOShared\logs\System"

    ...with different paths/programs/folders for each one. Does this fall under the same thing that you explained before about Index Attributes, or is this something that is a concern?

    Thanks! :)
     
  22. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    Hello @Nanobot,

    1. I'm not sure it is recommended to reset the transactional metada when the drive is being mounted.
      In case the PC crashed, it can help recovering by rolling back transactions. No ?


    2. We have implemented a more secure way in PrivaZer for deleting the USN entries :
      PrivaZer overwrites each entry in the USN Journal to make it unrecoverable without altering the way it is working.

      Deleting the USN Journal with fsutil usn deletejournal /d /n <volumepath> can be very slow
      as the Indexing Service or the File Replication Service, for instance, make use of it.
      If it gets deleted, then the index has to be rebuilt from ground and that's slow and needs high CPU resources !

    Hope it helps, feel free to share your thoughts.

    ----------------------------------

    Hello @tgraf66,

    to clean the INDEX attributes of directories stored in the MFT table, no file should be in use by you or the system in the directory.
    Thus, I can presume that a file was being used by the system in INDEX attributes C:\ProgramData\USOShared\logs\System
    so that PrivaZer is unable to clean the INDEX attributes.

    Hope it helps,
     
  23. tgraf66

    tgraf66 Registered Member

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    So that means that since I can't run Privazer unless Windows is running, there's no way to clean those records?
     
  24. The_PrivaZer_Team

    The_PrivaZer_Team Developer

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    Yes, no secure way to delete some folders hold by the system when Windows is running and when it is using some of the files in that folder.
    The only solution would be to connect your storage to another PC and run a cleanup.
    But I'm not sure that's a real privacy issue because there is no traces of your personal files in those folders.
     
  25. tgraf66

    tgraf66 Registered Member

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    Thank you. :)
     
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