Window Washer does Windows
Written: Jan 18 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Frees up wasted space, improves system performance, increases privacy
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Every once in a while, a utility that is so useful that you think Microsoft should have included it comes along. Until Microsoft catches on, use Window Washer.
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| stevelarrison's Full Review: Webroot N20527 Window Washer v4.0 WINWASH4-C |
Ever notice that when you are doing something like entering a search term into Google how Windows can show what you have done in the past?
Or worse yet, have you ever seen how sites like Ameritrade will store your LOGIN information between sessions even if you have cleared your browser cache?
Personally, I don't like having half the information (it won't store passwords) needed to access my account stored in an area of Windows that is difficult to clean. Face it, in the connected world of today, physical access to your computer isn't the only way to get personal information from your machine. The constant series of security updates for various vulnerabilities in Windows should be enough to make anyone nervous.
There is no other way to put it. Webroot has come upon a need that is so basic that it should be included in Windows itself. Until the ability to remove personal information from your machine is made easier, everyone should get Window Washer.
Those are strong words! Tell me more about what Window Washer will do for me.
Window Washer is designed to clean up records of how you use your computer. When you start to consider all the places that personal information is kept, the prospect of cleaning your machine on a regular basis by hand is undaunting.
You can clean your INTERNET HISTORY and TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES by hand, but you still have auto-form completion data everywhere.
You can clear your cookies automatically, but in the Microsoft world, it is an all-or-nothing proposition. Personally, I don't mind having cookies kept for newsites like the Dallas Morning News ( www.dallasnews.com ) or the New York Times kept because they contain no confidential information, have no financial impact, and save me from having to type in a login and password. But I would rather not have a cookie from Ebay or Amazon kept around.
With the number of security holes constantly appearing in Windows, I sure don't want to keep my Windows Run History on my machine. Knowing what software a machine has installed is a key piece of information for several hacks. Firewall or not, there are ways to get to information on your machine remotely.
Window Washer allows you to decide how paranoid you want to be. It can be configured to clear the following items :
Document History
Windows Find History
Windows Run History
Temporary Files Directory
Scandisk Temp Files
Recycle Bin
Registry Stream
MS Office Tracks
Windows Media Player
Netscape
Internet Explorer
Those are the basic items. Are you an Opera user? No problem, there are free plugins to guard your privacy too. Are you an AOL or MSN user? No problem. It will handle customizations for AOL or MSN user environments.
Don't get me started about cookies. While they are useful for logging into some accounts, I certainly don't want cookies on my machine for anything that involves financial informatino. And I want information various advertisers use to track my activity even less. With Window Washer, I can have it clear all cookies except the ones I want to keep on timed intervals. Adaware finds far less spyware on my machine since I started using Window Washer.
Not only does Window Washer hide your history, it has an option called "Adding bleach to the wash" that allows very secure destruction of personal information. It will let you specify to overwrite data files before deleting. The NSA standard for overwrites for security calls for 7 overwrites before deletion. But Window Washer will allow you to overwrite any number of times you desire before deletion. I find that overwriting 10 times before deletion allows good security, yet still runs fast.
Scheduling Window Washer is ideal. You can set it to run on Windows startup, shutdown, whenever you close your browser, as often as every 15 minutes or as infrequently as once a month.
Conclusion
Microsoft should add this functionality to the Operating System. For whatever reason, they haven't. Not only does Window Washer increase security and privacy, but I found when I first started using it that cleaning up all the junk that Windows stores improved performance of my machine in all applications.
Get Window Washer (at www.webroot.com ) today!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
stevelarrison
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Member: Steve Larrison
Location: Scottsdale, Az. USA
Reviews written: 171
Trusted by: 198 members
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Beer, the answer to, and the cause of all life's problems.
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