East-Tec Eraser 2007
.
Hello and I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. :) I'm really happy to present another East Technologies product to review for you today!
Have you ever worried about other people accessing your computer and finding confidential files that you've deleted?
What about the hacker who knows exactly what he's doing and accesses information such as that contained in old back-ups that have been deleted to your recycle bin; or even the sensitive files that you used to keep in My Documents, but thought you'd permanently deleted by pressing SHIFT-DEL.
A sophisticated user would know how to access this information and retrieve it easily and a hacker or sniffer would find it easier still. East-Tec Eraser, erases data from your computer in such a way that the data can never be recovered – not by you or anyone.
Publisher: East Technologies
Supported Languages: English; German; French
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Additional Requirements:None
Tested on: Windows XP Pro.
Did you always think that particular information was safe as long as you deleted your emails? Well you're not. Your email program doesn't actually perform the deletion, Windows does, so all your deleted emails are just sitting on your hard drive, waiting for someone to come along, retrieve them and read them all.
Perhaps you're also a little worried about your on-line travels and being tracked by cookies or other devices downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge. That's where East-Tec Eraser also comes in handy.
GUI (Graphical user interface:)
The opening GUI is attractive to work with, as you can see in the opening image. The four large buttons on the right hand side represent the main commands that you would need to execute with the software. They are:
Privacy Guard:
This is a really neat usage of this software. Privacy Guard can erase data that is generated as a result of you using your computer. For example:
Your browser keeps track of where you've been on the internet;
Many programs generate temporary files that can be used to show what you've been doing on your computer. The temporary files folder and the recycle bin can be rich sources of revealing information for anyone.
This software tries to remove all evidence of what you've been doing on your computer, both locally and while browsing. Used properly, the user will be well protected from being tracked while browsing the internet and can set your mind at ease when doing anything while working with your computer. (You will still need your virus software!)
There are two ways to use the Privacy Guard: Basic and Advanced:
Basic Privacy Guard:
This appears to run Privacy Guard with East-Tec's pre-programmed defaults. Unfortunately, the default may or may not protect all the applications a user would want to protect. I strongly recommend that you read the help file before erasing anything.
Advanced Privacy Guard:
There are a dizzying array of options and as such I won't be going through them all today. I doubt that most users will know what to turn on and off – and this is always a danger when using software of this genre. Make sure you know what you're doing if you plan on changing any of the defaults.
Options:
Among the options is a long list of Windows features; browsers; applications; peer to peer applications; news and email readers that can also be privacy protected.
I did expect that Privacy Guard would have the ability to scan my computer to see what applications I currently have installed and automatically protect those applications (in fact, even the Basic Privacy Guard could handle this.) This is not something difficult to implement in any program and I hope that in the next release of this software, it will be included.
Instead I had to go through the list turning on the ones I use and turning the others off.
Erase Deleted Data:
As it implies, this erases the data from files that you've deleted. As I said above, it tries to do it in such a way that no one can ever recover the data after erasure. Note: The program offers several methods to erase data with an explanation of what each method does and it's pros and cons.
Unsophisticated users should probably stick with the defaults, but it's nice for the experienced users who can make the appropriate trade-offs. This feature can optionally erase files in the recycle bin and erase deleted files from multiple drives.
It's odd that it offers to erase files on my DVD drive, as DVDs cannot typically be erased. I would have liked to see it only offer to erase files on drives that are truly erasable.
Erase Recycle Bin Files:
This is a sub-set of "Erase Deleted Data" that works only on your recycle bin.
Erase Files and Folders:
This is like "Erase Deleted Data," but it works on files that you've not yet deleted. It's kind of like using Windows to delete the file and then using East-Tec Eraser to erase the deleted data, - but accomplishing it all in one step.
Entire Drive Wiper:
This lets you erase all the data on a drive. Normally, when you format a drive, the data still remains after the format (although it's inaccessible to most users.) This action wipes all the data from your drive so that it can never be recovered – even after formatting.
After erasing some data, I was surprised to find that there's no log kept of what was done. As a person who always like to check what has been done, it would have been nice if the software kept or at least offered to keep a log of its activity so I could see if I was erasing too much, too little, or just the right amount of data (little Goldilocks - 3 Bears reference there ;)
Scheduler:
The scheduler can be used to regularly execute the program. This is very useful to advanced users. It can also run in the background, erasing things as they're deleted and constantly protecting your privacy.
Personally I wouldn't want my files to be permanently deleted if they had just been placed in the recycle bin – Given that I'm one to delete files in error occasionally, I'd like to make sure that I didn't want to retrieve them - so I'd probably schedule erasure once per week.
Update Feature:
As with other software, this launches your browser and takes you to the East Technologies web page where you can get the latest version.
Help File:
The help file is set out as any other, in a Windows tree format, with the familiar search functions and favorites storage.
I used File Scavenger to search for the files I deleted and found that it reported the files as still being available for recovery. While it couldn't recover the actual files, I was confused as to why the file names still appeared. Checking the help files, I found that this was to be expected, however the reason for this was not explained.
Otherwise I found their help files to be comprehensive, well laid out and explanatory.
Features:
Running the software causes its addition to the Windows context menu when you right click on a file - Erase Beyond Recovery.
Privacy Guard can also create custom Sensitive Areas, which can be automatically erased when cleaning your computer. The Sensitive Area can include files, folders and registry keys.
This is a very powerful feature in the hands of a sophisticated user, unfortunately it's also an easy way to destroy your computer in the hands of a novice;
East-Tec Eraser 2007 can also be run from the command line
Negatives:
I noted that the Peer2Peer list mentions uTorrent1.5 which hasn't been current since February 2007. uTorrent is currently up to version 1.7.5.
The list of email programs Privacy Guard can protect is different in the program and in the help file. The documentation needs to be addressed so that it matches the program!
Points:
There are other prices for varying licenses on the East Technologies web site.
The price is a little high for a program that would like to have a significant amount of the market share in it's category. There are other cheaper programs, however I'm not sure how they would stack up against the great functionality of East-Tec Eraser 2007.
Summary:
East-Tec Eraser 2007 is definitely a nice privacy protection program with a lot of incredible features. My reservation, is for those unsophisticated users who may never have used such software, or as I said earlier, will not know which options to turn on and off, or know how best to use the program, even with the help that's provided.
The defaults may or may not do what the user wishes it would do. Sophisticated users, on the other hand, will find a whole lot of power in the software to protect their privacy.
When using the update feature, it would have been nice if the software had first checked to see whether or not I actually needed the latest version before launching my browser. Most users get ticked off at a browser launching when it's not needed.
It would have been nicer still, if once determining that I did need the latest version, that it automatically downloaded and installed the latest version for me. As it works now, you have to check Help - About to see what version you're running, compare that to the version on the web site - and then you can choose whether to manually download and install.
Recommendation:
I strongly recommend East-Tec Eraser 2007 to sophisticated users who will be able to make use of all the functionality within the program. It does what it says on the tin and functions brilliantly.
I would caution new or inexperienced users to be very careful about what they decide to delete until they become more au fait with the program. Reading the help files is an absolute must!
Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~
Other reviews for East-Tec Eraser 2007:
If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!
Enjoy the rest of your day!
~ Swan
All Content is Copyright © 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com
All Rights Reserved.
Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~
Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:
Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.
Advertisers:
Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.
Ahhh Agloco - I’m making money, are you?
“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
~ Swan (2005)
You can contact ~Swan at swan.review.everything@gmail.com If you enjoy her reviews, please leave a comment on her blog and a return URL - so that she can visit you too!
Hello and I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. :) I'm really happy to present another East Technologies product to review for you today!Have you ever worried about other people accessing your computer and finding confidential files that you've deleted?
What about the hacker who knows exactly what he's doing and accesses information such as that contained in old back-ups that have been deleted to your recycle bin; or even the sensitive files that you used to keep in My Documents, but thought you'd permanently deleted by pressing SHIFT-DEL.
A sophisticated user would know how to access this information and retrieve it easily and a hacker or sniffer would find it easier still. East-Tec Eraser, erases data from your computer in such a way that the data can never be recovered – not by you or anyone.
Publisher: East Technologies
Supported Languages: English; German; French
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Additional Requirements:None
Tested on: Windows XP Pro.
Did you always think that particular information was safe as long as you deleted your emails? Well you're not. Your email program doesn't actually perform the deletion, Windows does, so all your deleted emails are just sitting on your hard drive, waiting for someone to come along, retrieve them and read them all.
Perhaps you're also a little worried about your on-line travels and being tracked by cookies or other devices downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge. That's where East-Tec Eraser also comes in handy.
GUI (Graphical user interface:)
The opening GUI is attractive to work with, as you can see in the opening image. The four large buttons on the right hand side represent the main commands that you would need to execute with the software. They are:
- Privacy Guard;
- Erase Deleted Data;
- Add Files and Folders;
- Erase Files and Folders.
- Recycle Bin Files;
- Deleted Email;
- Scheduler;
- Entire Drive Wiper;
- Updates.
Privacy Guard: This is a really neat usage of this software. Privacy Guard can erase data that is generated as a result of you using your computer. For example:
Your browser keeps track of where you've been on the internet;
Many programs generate temporary files that can be used to show what you've been doing on your computer. The temporary files folder and the recycle bin can be rich sources of revealing information for anyone.
This software tries to remove all evidence of what you've been doing on your computer, both locally and while browsing. Used properly, the user will be well protected from being tracked while browsing the internet and can set your mind at ease when doing anything while working with your computer. (You will still need your virus software!)
There are two ways to use the Privacy Guard: Basic and Advanced:
Basic Privacy Guard:
This appears to run Privacy Guard with East-Tec's pre-programmed defaults. Unfortunately, the default may or may not protect all the applications a user would want to protect. I strongly recommend that you read the help file before erasing anything.
Advanced Privacy Guard:
There are a dizzying array of options and as such I won't be going through them all today. I doubt that most users will know what to turn on and off – and this is always a danger when using software of this genre. Make sure you know what you're doing if you plan on changing any of the defaults.
Options:
Among the options is a long list of Windows features; browsers; applications; peer to peer applications; news and email readers that can also be privacy protected.
I did expect that Privacy Guard would have the ability to scan my computer to see what applications I currently have installed and automatically protect those applications (in fact, even the Basic Privacy Guard could handle this.) This is not something difficult to implement in any program and I hope that in the next release of this software, it will be included.
Instead I had to go through the list turning on the ones I use and turning the others off.
Erase Deleted Data:
As it implies, this erases the data from files that you've deleted. As I said above, it tries to do it in such a way that no one can ever recover the data after erasure. Note: The program offers several methods to erase data with an explanation of what each method does and it's pros and cons.
Unsophisticated users should probably stick with the defaults, but it's nice for the experienced users who can make the appropriate trade-offs. This feature can optionally erase files in the recycle bin and erase deleted files from multiple drives.
It's odd that it offers to erase files on my DVD drive, as DVDs cannot typically be erased. I would have liked to see it only offer to erase files on drives that are truly erasable.
Erase Recycle Bin Files:
This is a sub-set of "Erase Deleted Data" that works only on your recycle bin.
Erase Files and Folders:This is like "Erase Deleted Data," but it works on files that you've not yet deleted. It's kind of like using Windows to delete the file and then using East-Tec Eraser to erase the deleted data, - but accomplishing it all in one step.
Entire Drive Wiper:
This lets you erase all the data on a drive. Normally, when you format a drive, the data still remains after the format (although it's inaccessible to most users.) This action wipes all the data from your drive so that it can never be recovered – even after formatting.
After erasing some data, I was surprised to find that there's no log kept of what was done. As a person who always like to check what has been done, it would have been nice if the software kept or at least offered to keep a log of its activity so I could see if I was erasing too much, too little, or just the right amount of data (little Goldilocks - 3 Bears reference there ;)
Scheduler:
The scheduler can be used to regularly execute the program. This is very useful to advanced users. It can also run in the background, erasing things as they're deleted and constantly protecting your privacy.
Personally I wouldn't want my files to be permanently deleted if they had just been placed in the recycle bin – Given that I'm one to delete files in error occasionally, I'd like to make sure that I didn't want to retrieve them - so I'd probably schedule erasure once per week.
Update Feature:
As with other software, this launches your browser and takes you to the East Technologies web page where you can get the latest version.
Help File:
The help file is set out as any other, in a Windows tree format, with the familiar search functions and favorites storage.
I used File Scavenger to search for the files I deleted and found that it reported the files as still being available for recovery. While it couldn't recover the actual files, I was confused as to why the file names still appeared. Checking the help files, I found that this was to be expected, however the reason for this was not explained.
Otherwise I found their help files to be comprehensive, well laid out and explanatory.
Features:
Running the software causes its addition to the Windows context menu when you right click on a file - Erase Beyond Recovery.
Privacy Guard can also create custom Sensitive Areas, which can be automatically erased when cleaning your computer. The Sensitive Area can include files, folders and registry keys.
This is a very powerful feature in the hands of a sophisticated user, unfortunately it's also an easy way to destroy your computer in the hands of a novice;
East-Tec Eraser 2007 can also be run from the command line
Negatives:
I noted that the Peer2Peer list mentions uTorrent1.5 which hasn't been current since February 2007. uTorrent is currently up to version 1.7.5.
The list of email programs Privacy Guard can protect is different in the program and in the help file. The documentation needs to be addressed so that it matches the program!
Points:
- Originality: 7/10
- Functionality: 8/10
- Intuitiveness: 6/10
There are other prices for varying licenses on the East Technologies web site.
The price is a little high for a program that would like to have a significant amount of the market share in it's category. There are other cheaper programs, however I'm not sure how they would stack up against the great functionality of East-Tec Eraser 2007.
Summary:
East-Tec Eraser 2007 is definitely a nice privacy protection program with a lot of incredible features. My reservation, is for those unsophisticated users who may never have used such software, or as I said earlier, will not know which options to turn on and off, or know how best to use the program, even with the help that's provided.
The defaults may or may not do what the user wishes it would do. Sophisticated users, on the other hand, will find a whole lot of power in the software to protect their privacy.
When using the update feature, it would have been nice if the software had first checked to see whether or not I actually needed the latest version before launching my browser. Most users get ticked off at a browser launching when it's not needed.
It would have been nicer still, if once determining that I did need the latest version, that it automatically downloaded and installed the latest version for me. As it works now, you have to check Help - About to see what version you're running, compare that to the version on the web site - and then you can choose whether to manually download and install.
Recommendation:
I strongly recommend East-Tec Eraser 2007 to sophisticated users who will be able to make use of all the functionality within the program. It does what it says on the tin and functions brilliantly.
I would caution new or inexperienced users to be very careful about what they decide to delete until they become more au fait with the program. Reading the help files is an absolute must!
Why not spend a little time shopping at ~ Software by Swan ~
Other reviews for East-Tec Eraser 2007:
If you enjoy my reviews, please vote for this blog - votes are always appreciated and give more visibility to my clients and their products, which therefore obtains more work for me - thank you! :) Not to mention that it improves your own karma!
Enjoy the rest of your day!
~ Swan
All Content is Copyright © 2007 Swan-Reviews-Almost-Everything.blogspot.com
All Rights Reserved.
Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~
Developers, Software Houses and Web Designers:
Please contact Swan if you'd like to purchase a candid, constructive review, under privately agreed terms, of your software; games; or web site design.
Advertisers:
Please contact Swan, if you'd like to arrange for advertising your product on this web site.
Ahhh Agloco - I’m making money, are you?“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
~ Swan (2005)
You can contact ~Swan at swan.review.everything@gmail.com If you enjoy her reviews, please leave a comment on her blog and a return URL - so that she can visit you too!
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