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| QuickWiper 7.4.2 | |
| Wiping or
file-shredding software definitely has its place in the law office. Files
are not destroyed when Windows deletes them or when you delete files from
the recycle bin. When a file is deleted, only a pointer to it is truly
deleted while the contents of the file stay intact. This means even though
you can’t see the file from your desktop, it might still exist in the free
space on your drive.
All deleted files become part of the drive’s free space and can be read by average users with the tools and software programs available for download on the Internet or for purchase. QuickWiper is a file security and wipe system that wipes folders, files and free drive space. QuickWiper also can remove some (not all) traces of recently opened files, Internet Explorer (IE) cache, typed URL’s, browsing history and cookies. I downloaded QuickWiper from the Internet and entered my registration code. There were no problems with the installation. The first feature I clicked on was “Wipe Free Space” and a dialog box informed me I had 18GB of free space to wipe, but nothing happened. I didn’t receive any confirmation that wiping of my drive’s free space had occurred. The example in “Help” showed an estimated time to wipe the drive’s free space. However, I didn’t receive an estimated wipe time in the dialog box, and there was nothing displayed in the timer and progress bar. I thought there might be a problem with the download or install so I uninstalled and downloaded the program again. Even after reinstallation, the “Wipe Free Space” function still didn’t work on my computer. QuickWiper also offered “Tips of the Day” and “Help,” but, the misspellings in the text detracted from the program’s credibility. If the programmers can’t spell “sensitive” correctly, how do I know the program is working and that my files have really been wiped? This is critical, especially in the law office. Another feature I had trouble with was dragging and dropping my files into QuickWiper’s icon for wiping. I was able to drag and drop text files into the icon and wipe these files; however, it didn’t work when I tried to drag and drop .exe or zipped files into the icon. QuickWiper would not accept them. Instead, I used the Wipe Wizard to browse to the .exe and zipped files for wiping. The Wipe Wizard worked fine. It was simple to use and walked me through the wipe process step-by-step. I browsed to the file or folder I wanted to wipe and clicked my way through this Wizard. I also received confirmation that the file or folder was wiped. This is the best feature of QuickWiper. I used some of the functions under “System Clear,” which were “Clear Internet Explorer (IE) Cache,” “Clear IE-Typed URL’s,” “Delete Cookies,” “Clear History,” “Clear Recent Files,” and “Clear All.” “Clear All” didn’t work, and instead, I got an error message. “Clear History” worked the best and I received confirmation of the wiping as well. I clicked on “Delete Cookies.” It deleted the cookies in my default “Cookies” folder only. I logged on to the Internet and browsed to some Web sites and confirmed that these cookies were indeed wiped because I had to re-enter my passwords for my favorite sites. However, I had cookies in other folders and used the Wipe Wizard to wipe these cookies from my system. Obviously, the “Delete Cookies” function only deletes cookies in the default Cookies folder. I wished “Help” had pointed this out. Also, QuickWiper didn’t delete all the traces of IE cache and IE-typed URL’s from my browser. I was left guessing if QuickWiper would wipe them the next time I was in the program. When I used some of the functions under “System Clear,” I didn’t always receive confirmation of wiping, and the log file was short on description as to what was wiped. For confirmation on all activity, the “Confirm All Operations” option must be activated in the “Options” menu. After I completed some of the wiping functions, I went to the log file to verify what was wiped and found some of the functions I completed weren’t in the log file. I went to “Help” and didn’t find any advice on how to handle this. I would prefer using a wiping/file-shredding program that is Department of Defense (DoD) compliant, which I understand QuickWiper isn’t because the stamp of approval from the DoD gives users extra assurance that their data is truly wiped from their computers. |
AKS-Labs
Price: $29.95 personal license; $49.95
business license. Reviewed by Melynda Hill-Teter, a freelance paralegal based in Phoenix. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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