What is a good freeware Internet privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

[bentknuckle]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

I googled for "Internet privacy tracks eraser freeware download" and
got hundreds of hits including scores of programs at
http://www.dirfile.com/freeware/erase-internet-activity.htm and another
score of programs at
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Internet/IntPriv/IntPriv1.html
and scores more "free downloads" (not necessarily freeware) at
http://www.gold-software.com/internet82.html etc.

There are so many Windows XP Internet privacy tracks erasers out there
that I'm more confused after searching than I was before searching.

Currently I use Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta "Tools->Advanced
Tools->Tracks Eraser" in combination with PGP freespace wipe (3x) to
shred files and free space (including slack space at the end of each
file) but the Giant tracks eraser really only does a decent job on some
Microsoft tools (for example, it does nothing about Netscape and many
other non-Microsoft programs).

I'm not looking for a file shredder (PGP is the ackknowledged leader in
that).

What I'm asking is who is the acknowledged leader in locating and
deleting files & registry entries and binary datapoints which track our
activity, including cookies, cache, temporary files, most recent used
files, auto-completion storage, recently used URLs, downloaded
newsgroup information,

What's a good freeware history eraser which locates & deletes the
complete set of files which track our computer activities? (Does anyone
even have that list of files and registry entries which track our
activities?)

 

[Hans Werner]

What's a good freeware history eraser which locates & deletes the
complete set of files which track our computer activities? (Does anyone
even have that list of files and registry entries which track our
activities?)

I don't know if one exists as it would need to delete registry entries and
files and portions of files containing data in online forms, temporary
files, history files, start-run logs, address-bar logs, autocompletion logs,
document history, viewing history, cookies, recent file lists, clandestine
tracker files such as those from Internet Spy or Canary, search history,
autosave files, command history, and so on.

You'll probably have to write your own privacy cleaner.

 

[Michael Pelletier]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

I googled for "Internet privacy tracks eraser freeware download" and
got hundreds of hits including scores of programs at
http://www.dirfile.com/freeware/erase-internet-activity.htm and another
score of programs at
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Internet/IntPriv/IntPriv1.html
and scores more "free downloads" (not necessarily freeware) at
http://www.gold-software.com/internet82.html etc.

There are so many Windows XP Internet privacy tracks erasers out there
that I'm more confused after searching than I was before searching.

Currently I use Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta "Tools->Advanced
Tools->Tracks Eraser" in combination with PGP freespace wipe (3x) to
shred files and free space (including slack space at the end of each
file) but the Giant tracks eraser really only does a decent job on some
Microsoft tools (for example, it does nothing about Netscape and many
other non-Microsoft programs).

I'm not looking for a file shredder (PGP is the ackknowledged leader in
that).

What I'm asking is who is the acknowledged leader in locating and
deleting files & registry entries and binary datapoints which track our
activity, including cookies, cache, temporary files, most recent used
files, auto-completion storage, recently used URLs, downloaded
newsgroup information,

What's a good freeware history eraser which locates & deletes the
complete set of files which track our computer activities? (Does anyone
even have that list of files and registry entries which track our
activities?)

Just understand that if this is for work, many companies log your activity
at the gateway as do I. A track eraser is useless. If this is for home
nevermind.

Michael
--
"Trusted Computing" is a SCAM
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html

Protect your rights
http://www.eff.org/Infrastructure/trusted_computing/20031001_tc.php
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html

 

[bentknuckle]

if this is for work, many companies log your activity
at the gateway as do I. A track eraser is useless. If this is for home
nevermind.

I forgot to mention this is for home use, not corporate use.
Most freeware can't be installed on corporate machines anyway.

I'm looking for a known set of respected programs.
Sort of like for spyware, this handful is generally deemed reasonably
sufficient.
- AdAware SE Personal
- HiJack This
- Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta
- Spyware Blaster
- SpyBot Search & Destroy

The goal of this question is to come up with the handful of freeware
Internet privacy washers that many people deem to be worthy.

What privacy washer do you use?

 

[Loan Nguyen]

Sort of like for spyware, this handful is generally deemed reasonably
sufficient.
- AdAware SE Personal
- HiJack This
- Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta
- Spyware Blaster
- SpyBot Search & Destroy

I suspect you will need a combination of tracks erasers to get to 95%
cleansing of your Internet activity just like you need all five
programs you listed for adware & spyware removal to get to 99%
cleansing.

I downloaded one of the programs you listed and it immediately cleaned
22 Mbytes of tracking data about my activities including something
scarey called "Registry Streams"!

Here is the log file from that program (I won't name it as I have no
idea if it's a good program or not or even if it's not spyware in
disguise like you were worried about).

==================================
ComputerName: NGUYEN
Current UserName: Loan
Windows Type: Microsoft Windows XP
Windows Version: 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Windows Main Directory: C:\SYSTEM\WINDOWS
Windows System Directory: C:\SYSTEM\WINDOWS\system32
Windows Temporary Files Directory: C:\Temp
Internet Explorer Cache Directory: C:\Documents and
Settings\Loanr\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
Internet Explorer Cookies Directory: C:\Documents and
Settings\Loan\Cookies
Internet Explorer History Directory: C:\Documents and
Settings\Loan\Local Settings\History
==================================
Erasing Windows Recent Document List....
Windows Recent Document List Erased.

Erasing Windows Run History...
Windows Run History Erased.

Erasing Windows Find Computer History...
Windows Find Computer History Erased.

Erasing Windows Find Files/Folders History...
Windows Find Files/Folders History Erased.

Erasing Windows Open/Save History...
Windows Open/Save History Erased.

Erasing Windows Registry Streams...
Windows Registry Streams Erased.

Erasing Windows Clipboard...
Windows Clipboard Erased.

Erasing Windows Recycle Bin......
Windows Recycle Bin Erased.

Erasing Windows Temporary Files Directory...
Windows Temporary Files Directory Erased.

Erasing Windows Scandisk File Fragments (*.CHK)...
Windows Scandisk File Fragments (*.CHK) Erased.

Erasing Windows Paint Recent File List....
Windows Paint Recent File List Erased.

Erasing Windows Wordpad Recent File List...
Windows Wordpad Recent File List Erased.

Erasing Windows MediaPlayer Recent File List...
Windows MediaPlayer Recent File List Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Cache...
Internet Explorer Cache Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Browser History...
Internet Explorer Browser History Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Cookies...
Internet Explorer Cookies Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Location Bar/Visited URLs...
Internet Explorer Location Bar/Visited URLs Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Typed URLs....
Internet Explorer Typed URLs Erased.

Erasing Internet Explorer Downloaded Program Files Directory......
...
Internet Explorer Downloaded Program Files Directory Erased.

..... and on ...
Cleaning Completed!
Cleaning Summary:
==================================
Registry Keys Erased: 54 Registry Values Erased: 102
Folders Erased: 38 Files Erased: 389
==================================
Released Disk Space: 22.4MB
==================================

 

[Leythos]

I forgot to mention this is for home use, not corporate use.
Most freeware can't be installed on corporate machines anyway.

Why would you need to clean your "tracks" on a home computer. If you're
not ashamed of what you are doing there is no need to hide it.

 

[Far Canal]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

What privacy washer do you use?

None. I don't have a thing to hide.

I'm not worried (or expecting) about a knock on the door.

 

[Serendipity]

I forgot to mention this is for home use, not corporate use.
Most freeware can't be installed on corporate machines anyway.

I'm looking for a known set of respected programs.
Sort of like for spyware, this handful is generally deemed reasonably
sufficient.
- AdAware SE Personal
- HiJack This
- Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta
- Spyware Blaster
- SpyBot Search & Destroy

The goal of this question is to come up with the handful of freeware
Internet privacy washers that many people deem to be worthy.

What privacy washer do you use?

I have Win XP on my PC. I didn't use a privacy washer although I usedd
Windows Washer when I had Win98. For XP, I used AdAware, Spybot, a
trojan scanner, a firewall in addition to XP firewall, and anti virus
software. From there, I just cleaned the cache, history, and cookies
folders. I finally got tired of having to keep all the security
software up to date and switched over to Mac. It's so much easier

 

[vestero]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

/snip/


Crap Cleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Works for me. I run it every day. Fastest scan engine I've ever seen.

 

[ben]

Why would you need to clean your "tracks" on a home computer. If you're
not ashamed of what you are doing there is no need to hide it.

'cause he is doing what he tells his kids not to do...

 

[old jon]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

I googled for "Internet privacy tracks eraser freeware download" and
got hundreds of hits including scores of programs at
http://www.dirfile.com/freeware/erase-internet-activity.htm and another
score of programs at
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Internet/IntPriv/IntPriv1.html
and scores more "free downloads" (not necessarily freeware) at
http://www.gold-software.com/internet82.html etc.

There are so many Windows XP Internet privacy tracks erasers out there
that I'm more confused after searching than I was before searching.

Snip.
You could add `CCleaner` to your list of goodies. best wishes..J

 

[AvianFlux]

CleanUp!

http://home.comcast.net/~sgould4567/software/cleanup/

 

[canadadianfleece]

(e-mail address removed) wrote
None. I don't have a thing to hide.
I'm not worried (or expecting) about a knock on the door.

Do you also hang your washed underwear out on the front lawn?
And, of course, you make love to your wife in front of the kids, right?
You leave your paycheck stubs next to the water cooler at work I'm
sure.
Oh, yes, and you can send me that PDF of your IRS 1040 if you like.
Of course, don't seal the envelope ... otherwise the cops will come
knocking.

I still am very suspicious of my neighbor because she hangs her
underthings out back and she licks her envelopes. She must have
something to hide; I think I'll call the cops.

Back on topic ... I would think PC Magazine would have a good freeware
privacy washer with source code so that you can extend it to the next
program you use. But, I just searched now and I could not find a single
freebie privacy protector on the Ziff-Davis web site. Pity.

It's gonna be up to the nice folks here (all but Far Canal) to help out
with the answers.

 

[Default User]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

I use MRUBlaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/mrudownload.html (runs at
boot-up automatically) and CCleaner http://www.ccleaner.com/

 

[Far Canal]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Do you also hang your washed underwear out on the front lawn?
And, of course, you make love to your wife in front of the kids, right?
You leave your paycheck stubs next to the water cooler at work I'm
sure.
Oh, yes, and you can send me that PDF of your IRS 1040 if you like.
Of course, don't seal the envelope ... otherwise the cops will come
knocking.

You're incapable of setting up accounts for the other users of your
computer?
Too dull to know how to 'hide' confidential information on your
computer?

Those who clean their tracks after they've used their computers will
1 - always make a huge ****up at some point.
2 - draw attention to themselves

I still am very suspicious of my neighbor because she hangs her
underthings out back and she licks her envelopes. She must have
something to hide; I think I'll call the cops.

Have you been turned on by the sight of her bra & nickers?
Don't start nicking her nickers.

Back on topic ... I would think PC Magazine would have a good freeware
privacy washer with source code so that you can extend it to the next
program you use. But, I just searched now and I could not find a single
freebie privacy protector on the Ziff-Davis web site. Pity.

It's gonna be up to the nice folks here (all but Far Canal) to help out
with the answers.

There are many freeware programs - try asking in the freeware ng.

FU set

 

[someone]

What is a good Internet freeware privacy tracks eraser for WinXP?

I googled for "Internet privacy tracks eraser freeware download" and
got hundreds of hits including scores of programs at
http://www.dirfile.com/freeware/erase-internet-activity.htm and another
score of programs at
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Internet/IntPriv/IntPriv1.html
and scores more "free downloads" (not necessarily freeware) at
http://www.gold-software.com/internet82.html etc.

There are so many Windows XP Internet privacy tracks erasers out there
that I'm more confused after searching than I was before searching.

Currently I use Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta "Tools->Advanced
Tools->Tracks Eraser" in combination with PGP freespace wipe (3x) to
shred files and free space (including slack space at the end of each
file) but the Giant tracks eraser really only does a decent job on some
Microsoft tools (for example, it does nothing about Netscape and many
other non-Microsoft programs).

I'm not looking for a file shredder (PGP is the ackknowledged leader in
that).

What I'm asking is who is the acknowledged leader in locating and
deleting files & registry entries and binary datapoints which track our
activity, including cookies, cache, temporary files, most recent used
files, auto-completion storage, recently used URLs, downloaded
newsgroup information,

What's a good freeware history eraser which locates & deletes the
complete set of files which track our computer activities? (Does anyone
even have that list of files and registry entries which track our
activities?)

Crap cleaner.
http://www.ccleaner.com

 

[ellis_jay]

I don't know if one exists..
Exactly.

as it would need to delete registry
entries and files and portions of files containing data in online
forms, temporary files, history files, start-run logs, address-bar
logs, autocompletion logs, document history, viewing history,
cookies, recent file lists, clandestine tracker files such as those
from Internet Spy or Canary, search history, autosave files, command
history, and so on.

You'll probably have to write your own privacy cleaner.

I will be flamed, but no one here can point to a program that will do all
that. You can get this one for free for 15 days at least. I think it comes
as close as it gets to what you require.

http://smartprotector.com/eraser/?id=gg

Best one I have seen.

Mru blaster is another good one,,the link is in another post in this thread.
It is from javacool software. CCCleaner is probably another good free one.
I don't use it, but I just made a folder to download it to. Spybot S&D,
also, will let you allow or disallow registry entry's if the program is run
in sessions and you have it configured correctly in advanced mode.
Sometimes you gotta pay for that extra oomph!! ya need. I am not happy
about it but that's the cold, hard facts of life.

--
He released government from the restraint of law.
____Lord Acton on Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), George W. Bush, and
the Straussian neocons

Ellis_Jay

 

[Lil' Abner]

(e-mail address removed) wrote





None. I don't have a thing to hide.

I'm not worried (or expecting) about a knock on the door.

Exactly.

 

[ellis_jay]

I will be flamed, but no one here can point to a program that will do
all that. You can get this one for free for 15 days at least. I
think it comes as close as it gets to what you require.

http://smartprotector.com/eraser/?id=gg

Best one I have seen.

Mru blaster is another good one,,the link is in another post in this
thread. It is from javacool software. CCCleaner is probably another
good free one. I don't use it, but I just made a folder to download
it to. Spybot S&D, also, will let you allow or disallow registry
entry's if the program is run in sessions and you have it configured
correctly in advanced mode. Sometimes you gotta pay for that extra
oomph!! ya need. I am not happy about it but that's the cold, hard
facts of life.

Just downloaded ccleaner and it is a really nice utility. Cleaned lots of
stuff smartprotector didnt touch. I will reboot shortly and hope I did not
el fuque-o upt my shee -it. One word, though. I googled for the ccleaner
link. I carelessly put an extra "C"-as in ccclener like I did in above
text. All I got for my trouble is an attempted hijack by some newsearch
page dot junkcom. DO noot (estra o deliberate) use three (3) c's in a
google for this or make a typo if typed in address bar. (typos deliberate
here in this reply)........so, be kewl, Buck.

--
He released government from the restraint of law.
____Lord Acton on Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), George W. Bush, and
the Straussian neocons

Ellis_Jay

 

[bentknuckle]

Why would you need to clean your "tracks" on a home computer.
If you're not ashamed of what you are doing ...

Well, if you must know - I'm gay but I never told my husband or kids.
I don't want them to know about the photos, emails, web sites,
documents, etc. Is that OK with you?

Now will you provide some help for me?