east-tec Eraser 2012

Keep your private information private with this important Windows utility.

You know, eBay and Craig's List are wonderful things. You can find all kinds of bargains there, and can usually sell things you either want or need to get rid of rather quickly. There great around the Holiday's for quick cash and gift purchases; and computers are usually high traffic items that trade hands quickly.  The bad thing about used computers though is that hard drives can often retain data, even if you've already erased it. This is why I like tools like East-Tec Eraser.  It’s a hard drive security tool for Windows.

Getting rid of data on your hard drive isn't always easy, but with East-Tec Eraser you can completely destroy information stored without your knowledge or approval, like your Internet history, web pages and pictures from sites you visited on the Internet, any unwanted cookies, and your chatroom conversations.  You can even get rid of deleted e-mail messages and attachments, temporary files, the Windows swap file, and the contents of your Recycle Bin, etc.

If you have (or had) sensitive information on your computer, and want or need to get rid of it and the tracks it leaves behind, don't worry. East-Tec Eraser 2012 meets and exceeds government and industry standards for the permanent erasure of digital information, as well as Russian and German security standards; and industry standards like the Bruce Schneier Algorithm or the Peter Gutmann Method.

Pro’s: Easy to use, permanently deletes all unwanted data and information

Con’s: Advanced/DoD-styled wipes take a GREAT deal of time to complete

Conclusion: Selling your used computer on an online auction site can be wonderful when it comes to recouping the cost of a new machine.  The problem however, lies in what do you do about the data on your hard drive. Even after its erased, its still there, unless you use a shredding utility like East-Tech Eraser. This application did a great job of getting rid of any internet tracks as well as application data that wasn't supposed to survive after being erased.  The only problem I encountered was a timing and performance related issue to military/DoD styled wipes.