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Software Reviews
Cyberscrub Privacy Suite

Using the Privacy Guard

The Privacy Guard allows wiping of information collected in Windows, browsers, and applications, and a wide variety of options are available. The user is offered the option of Basic, with preconfigured defaults, or Advanced, where the data to be wiped can be customized. Although Privacy Suite recommends Basic, some of the defaults can be problematic and I recommend the Advanced option. This will lead to a screen which allows the user to choose the data to be wiped by selecting Windows, Browser, or Applications. Peer2Peer, news, and e-mail options are also available. A Custom tab permits the user to add selected files and folders to the Privacy Guard. This is not a one-time selection and the files and folders will be wiped each time unless the user removes them from the custom setting.

Privacy Guard Windows
Fig. 4 ... Privacy Guard Main Windows

Privacy Guard Browsers
Fig. 5 ... Privacy Guard Browsers

Privacy Guard Applications
Fig. 6 ... Privacy Guard Applications

Privacy Suite will detect the presence of a large number of applications and browsers and the location of the files to be wiped. If the location is not found, or a browser or application is not detected by Privacy Suite, the user can manually input the location.

Multiple File Deletion Screen
Fig. 7 ... Multiple File Deletion Screen

Extreme care is required in using the Privacy Guard, particularly with Applications. Privacy Guard will detect and wipe files from antivirus, software firewall, and similar programs. The default settings will sometimes require the user to reconfigure these programs as many of the settings will be wiped. For this reason, I do not select antivirus and firewall programs in the options.

The problem is alleviated somewhat by Privacy Guard preventing a limited user in Windows XP from selecting these programs. With any of the options, including file and folder wipes, a user who cannot modify a particular file according to the Windows permissions, also cannot wipe it. Even with this protection, however, not selecting these programs is the best option. When the options of these programs have been modified or deleted, the old information will be wiped when the user wipes the deleted data from the disk.