[PL] 2004 Discussion: SECURITY

[Susan Bugher]

The Nominations page is here:

http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/2004nominationsPL.php

Nominated programs can be evaluated at this time. A valuable program may
been have been overlooked during the nomination period. Late nominations
and seconds are permitted during the discussion period if there is
support for the program.

This thread is for review and comments related to programs on the
SECURITY page.

Programs that were nominated and seconded are listed below. The
subcategory is shown after the program name.

ID-Blaster Plus (-)
Ad-Aware (1 Anti-Spyware)
Spybot Search & Destroy (1 Anti-Spyware)
SpywareBlaster (1 Anti-Spyware)
AntiVir Personal Edition (1 Anti-Virus)
Avast! (1 Anti-Virus)
AVG Anti-Virus System (1 Anti-Virus)
F-Prot Antivirus for DOS (1 Anti-Virus)
Agnitum Outpost Firewall (Free) (1 Firewall)
Kerio Personal Firewall (1 Firewall)
Zone Alarm (1 Firewall)
Ethereal (1 Packet Sniffer)
Script Defender (1 Script Defense)
Script Sentry (1 Script Defense)
ScripTrap (1 Script Defense)
DCOMbobulator (1 Security patch)
AxCrypt (2 Encryption Tool)
Encryption for the Masses (E4M) (2 Encryption Tool)
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) (2 Encryption Tool)
Oubliette (2 Password Manager)
Password Safe (2 Password Manager)
PINs (2 Password Manager)
Whisper (2 Password Manager)
Revelation (2 Password Viewer)


Susan
--
Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org
PL2003: http://www.pricelessware.org/2003/about2003PL.htm
PL2004 Review: http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/2004nominationsPL.php
alt.comp.freeware FAQ (short) - maintained by John F.
http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html

 

[jason]

Susan--this is stuff for PW 2005...I know your hands are full for 2004:

I'm thinking file wipers might be a *little* more agreeable to you under
SECURITY if they're renamed to "Secure File Deletion". That emphasizes the
security part of it, and fits in well with the other subcats.

And note that even the description for Eraser calls it a "security tool":
"Eraser is an advanced security tool..."

And getting back to an earlier issue...I believe you objected to having
file wipers cut off from the file recovery utilities, since you apparently
view them as flip sides of the coin (correct me if I am wrong). But they
are two different coins. The opposite of deleting a file is to undelete
it; but the opposite of wiping a file...well, there is no opposite...at
least not in the normal workaday world. For all intents and purposes,
wiped files are gone. So wiping files has EVERYTHING to do with security.
The recovery of deleted files is just part of normal Windows file
management.

We'll talk more in 2005...

 

[Susan Bugher]

And getting back to an earlier issue...I believe you objected to having
file wipers cut off from the file recovery utilities, since you apparently
view them as flip sides of the coin (correct me if I am wrong).

You're wrong.

FWIW. . .

How the *Pros* do it:

Downloads > Screen Savers & Themes > Fonts >

ExtendedCharacterMap

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,6166,00.asp

Screen Savers & Themes - whoever would have thunk it?

Susan
--
Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org
PL2003: http://www.pricelessware.org/2003/about2003PL.htm
PL2004 Review: http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/2004nominationsPL.php
alt.comp.freeware FAQ (short) - maintained by John F.
http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html

 

[jason]

You're wrong.

Ah, okay, I re-read your quote. You were saying Restoration does BOTH
file recovery and wiping so you'd like to keep them together...and your
preferred category for keeping them together is File Utilities.
Yeah...that's a judgment call, and reasonable people can disagree. I'd
say the main strength of Restoration is file recovery since it's no match
to Eraser in file wiping. So I'd rather see file wiping under Security,
and file recovery under File Utilities. But again, that's a judgment
call.

BTW, my reason for saying Restoration is no match to Eraser is based on
three things.

1. It didn't make it into this major file wiper comparison guide:

http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/true/882/Comparison_Shredders.htm

2. There's no documentation regarding it's file wiping capabilities on
it's web site...unlike Eraser, which goes into explicit detail regarding
it's algorithms.

3. I don't recall it ever being recommended for file wiping in various
security groups.

Circumstantial evidence to be sure...and if someone could provide
evidence showing that it IS well-respected for it's file wiping
capabilities, I will gladly change my mind....Seriously...that would be
good information.