Eraser 6 and 5.8.8 released

http://eraser.heidi.ie/

Eraser 6 Stable released!
Eraser 6 stable has been released after being for 2 years in development. Eraser 6 sports a completely revamped user interface, and Windows XP/Vista/7 support out of the box.

Eraser 5.8.8 released!
Eraser 5.8.8 is released. This release is mainly meant to fix the disk corruption which results from running a first/last 2KB erase on a sparse file as well as to fix the context menu causing Explorer to hang when installed with certain software which also inserts a context menu item.

 

Thanks for the news.

FINALLY!!!!!! This was a royal pain in the neck!!!

 

For my 2 cents... 6.x is a pain in the ass and very buggy IMO on Windows 7. Have you had better luck?

Joel says 5.x isn't supported on Win 7, but it works fine for me, and is so much more elegant and stable than 6.x.

 

Yes version 7 is buggy for me also on windows 7, so wont bother using it, just upgraded to 5.8.8 instead, and yes it does work on windows 7 fine.

 

Testing version 6 on XP and it runs ALL THE TIME!!! One of the key benefits of Eraser was it only added a context menu choice and didn't use/waste system resources when it wasn't needed. To say the least, I am very, very disappointed.

I will recommend version 5 for as long as it's available but IMO, 6 is an idea gone awry... (And support for 5 is gone... Great!!! )

 

A followup...

Version 5.88 kicks butt! I agree with you snowdrift! It's better in every way than 6. How do these things (re: version 6) get so out of touch with what the user really wants and needs? Considering the amount of time that has gone into 6, it's a real shame!

 

Really that bad?
Was excited to try v6 on my x64 but now...stay away?

 

With 6 when you secure delete a file it doesnt give you any pop ups that it's been deleted, so your unsure when you bulk delete, with 5.8 atleast you see if in real time and get a report not sent to the taskbar like in v6. Also v6 is to cluttered. 5.8 is nice and basic and easy to use.

 

Version 6 is built around the scheduler (which always runs.) Even context menu erasures are processed by the scheduler. My issue is that I never used the scheduler. Ever! I know version 5 comes with the scheduler enabled but I killed it first thing I did on a new installation.

Why Joel thinks the scheduler is so important is beyond me. He is a gifted and obviously dedicated programmer. But IMO, he may not understand what many users might want. In it's current form, I will never be interested in version 6. I do NOT want something running all the time that I only use sporadically...

 

Never noteven once did I run the scheduler...

Oh well, I gues we're gonna stick to v5

 

Are there major differences with version 5.8.8 compared to 5.7 when it comes to erasing files? Pseudorandom in particular.

 

There was actually nothing wrong with the last version from Sami. Keeping it compatible with Windows versions is all that's important to me. The "complete rewrite" is a waste (in my opinion).

 

My fear is that with all the time invested in what I feel is a "wrong" direction (v 6), it may kill off a great little app. I know I can't recommend it any longer. It's officially moved to the bloat category!

Many PC owners fight sooo hard to keep their PCs lean and clean and here is one more app that will now run all the time. I just don't understand!

 

5.7 works fine for me on 9X thru XP. I had downloaded 5.8 and 6, but when I saw how bloated they'd become, 11.2MB and 9.1MB versus 2.8 for 5.7, I deleted them. I've never seen any of the problems with 5.7 that were "fixed" in 5.8 or 6. It's always worked well. The closest thing I've seen to a bug happens when a free space wipe is running and the PC gets rebooted or the power fails.

Unlike others who posted here, I use the scheduler heavily. It wipes about 20 locations regularly. IMO, the small additional load is more than made up for by keeping all the temp junk out along with flash cookies, a clean browser cache, etc.

 

I am trying to remember what was the reason I upgraded from 5.7 to 5.8.

If I am right, it was that 5.8 included the "Eraser Secure move" feature into the right-click context menu. With 5.7 it was possible only from within Windows Explorer.

Please, correct me if I am wrong. Those of you who use 5.7, please verify if that version has secure move option in the right-click menu.

 

I couldn't figure out how to get 5.88 tp work with Sandboxie. So I went back to 5.86. With 5.86 I just browse to the Eraser folder and it automatically selects it into Sandboxie. That doesn't work with more recent versions.

 

5.7 does add "secure move with eraser" to explorer's right click menu. It shows up when you right click a file or folder and drag it to another location.

Lately I've been installing 5.7 on the XP units I'm servicing and setting up scheduled tasks for the browser cache, temp folders, recycle bin, and temporary internet files folders, along with a few other locations. Keeping these cleaned out has improved performance more than the scheduler reduces it. I've never noticed any performance hit from the scheduler, save a couple extra seconds during bootup.

I can't see any decent reason a file eraser should be as big as some browsers. It almost seems that with hard drive space running into the hundreds of gigabytes, software writers don't care how much they use, whether it's justified or not. That's been the result of nearly unlimited storage and available resources. It lets coders write bloated, inefficient slop instead of good, optimized code. It's made them lazy. Yes, Windows can run that slop with no problems, but just think how much faster it would be if coders had to write efficient apps. The PC hardware's real potential is being wasted.

FYI, 5.7 works well with Sandboxie.

 

I use Eraser version 5.87 and Sandboxie v3.40. In Sandboxie right click on the task bar icon/show Window and under Sandbox/Default box/Sandbox settings/Delet/Command. In the dialog box put %SystemRoot%\System32\eraserl.exe -folder "%SANDBOX%" -subfolders -method Schneier -results -queue .

 

So I can jst copy and paste that in? I wonder why it doesn't automatically put that in there for me like 5.86 did? I would have NEVER figured that out. thanks

 

5.87 installs eraserl.exe in the system32 folder?

 

Correct.

 

With 5.7, eraserl.exe is installed in "program files\eraser".

 

Anyone seen this before?


http://i45.tinypic.com/111l6b4.png

Lat week I managed to install 5.8.8 on win 7 x64 and today...fail

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/permanenttan/archive/2008/06/05/diagnosing-side-by-side-problems-on-vista.aspx

I'm guessing, from that link, that you might be able to track down the eraser installation error, if it works - not used it myself. Might get a fix from the eraser peoples if you send them the text file.

 

BTW, shame if the scheduler is running as a permanent service (is it?). I did think Eraser's default start up add was sneaky, and now this, it is a little bit too far.