Evidence blaster???/ Internet Washer??

[mnb]

Hi Comp Gurus
What is all this about evidence removal from the computer??
Does internet tools option on Internet Explorer remove the unwanted files as you delete file and cookies and delete history??
I am a novice so i donot know the indepths.?

[iivtecracerii]

what have you been doing on the net to warrant the use of these?

i think these are a scam....
IMO, clearing temp files and history is good enough. i really dont think theres a file in the OS that permanently records what sites youve been to etc. like these programs claim it has.
if you're that worried, reformat . you should every couple of years to rid windows of bugs and quirks that build up from use anyways.

something you SHOULD get (and i think its free...mine was...) is Spybot: Search & Destory. not for evidence and all that mumbo-jumbo, but for spyware and adware that might cumulate on your system.

[Sunday Rider]

Originally posted by iivtecracerii
what have you been doing on the net to warrant the use of these?

i think these are a scam....
IMO, clearing temp files and history is good enough. i really dont think theres a file in the OS that permanently records what sites youve been to etc. like these programs claim it has.
if you're that worried, reformat . you should every couple of years to rid windows of bugs and quirks that build up from use anyways.

something you SHOULD get (and i think its free...mine was...) is Spybot: Search & Destory. not for evidence and all that mumbo-jumbo, but for spyware and adware that might cumulate on your system.

Good suggestion I have been using Spybot for a couple of months now. I think it works better than Adaware.
You can download it here.

[colorider]

FWIW, I use Adaware. It was recommended to me by some of our EDS people at work.

YMMV

[Sunday Rider]

Originally posted by colorider
FWIW, I use Adaware. It was recommended to me by some of our EDS people at work.

YMMV

Colorider, what is "YMMV"?
Thanks

[colorider]

Originally posted by Sunday Rider
Colorider, what is "YMMV"?
Thanks

Your Mileage May Vary

[Sunday Rider]

Originally posted by colorider
FWIW, I use Adaware. It was recommended to me by some of our EDS people at work.

YMMV

Have them check out Spybot. I found it worked faster than Adaware.
Thanks for clearing up YMMV.

[tim.s]

Originally posted by Sunday Rider
Have them check out Spybot. I found it worked faster than Adaware.
Thanks for clearing up YMMV.

Spybot might be faster, but I ran Adware after Spybot and Adware found about 10 things Spybot missed.

Of course if I had run Adware first, Spybot might have found things Adware missed.

I think the interface on Adware is more polished with more user control.

[krygny]

[list=1][*]Don't use IE or OutLook[Express]. Of course, if you're on AOL, you can't avoid IE. I use Mozilla, which is by far the best free browser/mail tool that runs on Windows. I run an Adaware scan every month or so and the only things I find are IE related items because Mrs. Krygny uses AOL.[*]If you have a broadband connection, use a hardare router w/ a firewall, not just a software firewall. Linksys makes beautiful units for both Ethernet (wired network) and WiFi (wireless).[*]If you really want to learn about PC security, check out Steve Gibson's site. It's very comprehensive and geared mostly to the home/average user. A lot of information and some free security testing tools.[/list=1]

About IE: Internet Explorer (as well as all Outlook clients) is horribly insecure. Since Microsoft won the browser wars, they have not improved IE and do not ever intend to because they don't have to. They already own your @$$. For their next OS (code name, Longhorn), they will embed the web client directly into the OS kernel, so it will be pretty much invisible. All programs will just use the built-in API. Exactly what the DOJ told them not to do, is exactly what they are doing entirely.

[LChisum]

Originally posted by iivtecracerii

if you're that worried, reformat . you should every couple of years to rid windows of bugs and quirks that build up from use anyways.

If you reformat, you will need to restore your entire system. I suggest that you defragment your hard drive on a regular basis. PROGRAMS->ACCESSORIES->SYSTEM TOOLS->DISK DEFRAGMENTER On that same path, run DISK CLEANUP regularly. I have used both Spybot and Adaware, and find that Spybot updates its spyware tables more frequently. I highly recommend using one of the two programs, because there is a multitude of crap from the net that wants to take up residence in your little PC. There is also a lot of back and forth traffic from the net which you never see. To sort this out into good guys and bad guys I would also suggest using a firewall. An excellent free one can be downloaded here.

[Sunday Rider]

Originally posted by tim.s
Spybot might be faster, but I ran Adware after Spybot and Adware found about 10 things Spybot missed.

Of course if I had run Adware first, Spybot might have found things Adware missed.

I think the interface on Adware is more polished with more user control.

That is funny. I ran Adware first, and Spybot found 14 files that Adware had missed. So I stuck with Spybot. I liked the simpler interface of Spybot, and I found the "agreement" filled with humor, so I took the plunge.

A firewall is important too as mentioned a couple of posts up.

[florida_guy]

Originally posted by Sunday Rider
That is funny. I ran Adware first, and Spybot found 14 files that Adware had missed. So I stuck with Spybot. I liked the simpler interface of Spybot, and I found the "agreement" filled with humor, so I took the plunge.

A firewall is important too as mentioned a couple of posts up.

Based on the recommendation of friend, a cyber friend, and a magazine article I read I use both Adware and Spybot when I am cleaning my system.

[FLPilot]

Originally posted by mnb
Hi Comp Gurus
What is all this about evidence removal from the computer??
Does internet tools option on Internet Explorer remove the unwanted files as you delete file and cookies and delete history??
I am a novice so i donot know the indepths.?

If you are trying to get rid of pesky little cookies or spyware definitely use Adware or SpyBot. If I am reading your original message correctly though, you are asking how can you remove something that you viewed (i.e. a porn picture on internet explorer). Being that I am part of a task force that investigates child porn I can tell you that it is very hard, if not impossible to delete completely things that have been saved to your hard drive. There are people out there that will tell you that if you reformat your drive 20 times that will work or if you use a program that over writes a file at government specs it will make it unrecoverable. I can tell you that is all false. The F B I uses programs (along with the task force I work with) that will be able to recover that file. My recommendation is if you just want to delete it so that your wife or kids don't see where you went just delete the history and the cache files. Unless they know what they are doing, they will never see what you did. If you want to sell your computer just sell it without the hard drive. I hope this at least helps answer your questions some what if not completely.

[colorider]

Originally posted by FLPilot

~snip~
Being that I am part of a task force that investigates child porn I can tell you that it is very hard, if not impossible to delete completely things that have been saved to your hard drive. There are people out there that will tell you that if you reformat your drive 20 times that will work or if you use a program that over writes a file at government specs it will make it unrecoverable. I can tell you that is all false. The F B I uses programs (along with the task force I work with) that will be able to recover that file.
~snip~

Hee Hee!!! And just to add a little to this - as the "custodian" of certain records (model numbering and serial number systems) I am called on to testify at some of these cases when they come to trial when they involve HDD's manufactured by my company!!

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by FLPilot
r if you use a program that over writes a file at government specs it will make it unrecoverable. I can tell you that is all false.

I guess it depends on how much time and $$ they throw at finding the data.

Do these programs not work? Or do people not use them correctly?

It is hard to believe they do not do a darn good job at removing the data from all but the most invasive recovery methods.

I know most new format programs only write the directory structure and don't touch the data areas, but there are some that do write repeated patterns to the data areas to check all sectors.