Privacy Eraser is a Windows privacy cleaner from Cybertron Software. It removes the records that web browsers, Windows itself and installed applications keep about what a person has opened, visited and typed. It also adds tools for overwriting files and free disk space so recovery software cannot bring back deleted data. A free edition is available, alongside a paid Pro edition.
Why activity traces build up
Windows and many programs log recent documents, search terms, Run commands and similar details as part of normal operation. The built-in privacy settings do not stop this, and much of the history has no obvious delete option. Anyone using the computer could reconstruct recent activity from these records, which also take up disk space. Privacy Eraser locates those records automatically, so the user does not need to know where each one is stored or repeat the search by hand.
One-click browser and Windows cleaning
The main scan gathers traces from several areas and removes them in a single pass.
- Browsers: Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer, including cache, cookies, browsing and download history, typed URLs, autocomplete and autofill entries, saved passwords and sessions. Privacy Eraser recognizes multiple browser profiles and portable browsers.
- Windows: Run, search and open/save dialog history, recent documents, temporary files, the Recycle Bin, the clipboard, taskbar jump lists, the DNS cache, log files, memory dumps and error reports.
Open programs can hold files in use and keep history from being removed, so Privacy Eraser can close browser windows before it cleans. Some browsers keep running in the system tray after their window closes. In Chrome and Edge, history synced with an online account can return after cleaning unless the user turns off sync for that data.
Cookies worth keeping
Deleting every cookie also signs the user out of websites. Privacy Eraser’s Cookie Manager handles cookies across the supported browsers and can scan for cookies to keep, so selected sites still work after a cleaning run. For Chromium-based browsers, cookie cleaning extends to Local Storage data.
Application plugins
Privacy Eraser handles traces left by third-party software through plugins. Each plugin holds the cleaning rules for one application, and a processing engine runs them during the scan. Privacy Eraser comes with more than 250 preconfigured plugins covering programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, WinZip, WinRAR, VLC and BitTorrent clients.
When a program is not covered, the user can create a custom plugin that tells Privacy Eraser which of that application’s traces to delete. Plugins can be imported and exported, which makes it possible to move a set of custom rules between computers.
Overwriting instead of deleting
When Windows deletes a file, it only marks the space as free, and the contents stay on the disk until something else replaces them. Undelete tools can recover data from that space. Privacy Eraser overwrites a file’s contents before removing it, and the user chooses how many passes to apply:
- normal deletion or a single-pass zero fill
- US DoD 5220.22-M with three passes, or the seven-pass ECE variant
- the 35-pass Peter Gutmann method
- a custom wipe method
More passes take longer to finish.
File Shredder and Drive Wiper
File Shredder applies the chosen wipe method to files and folders the user selects. It erases them permanently instead of sending them to the Recycle Bin. Drive Wiper works on what is already gone. It overwrites a drive’s free clusters, where remnants of previously deleted files remain. It also wipes spare and hidden areas such as file slack space, free entries in the NTFS master file table and FAT or exFAT free space, and alternate data streams. It also detects SSDs.
Scheduling and real-time monitoring
Privacy Eraser can clean on a schedule rather than only on demand. A scheduled run can cover several user accounts and can end by restarting or shutting down the PC. Privacy Eraser also offers manual multi-user cleaning, so it can remove traces from every account on a shared computer at once. Real-time monitoring offers two other triggers. It can clean each time the browser closes, or run in the background, watch the system and clean when it detects activity.
Registry and startup tools
Privacy Eraser also includes a few maintenance tools. The Registry Cleaner scans for obsolete and invalid entries left by programs that are no longer installed, repairs corrupted entries and backs up the registry before changing it. The Startup Manager lists the programs that launch with Windows, with search to find a particular entry. The App Uninstaller lists installed software with its install date and size and removes programs from the same window.
What Privacy Eraser Pro adds
Privacy Eraser Free includes the one-click cleaning, the plugin library and single-pass deletion, with updates downloaded manually. The Pro license removes the free edition’s limitations and nag screens and adds automatic updates and priority technical support. Users can buy Pro with a one-year or a lifetime license. When a time-limited license expires, Privacy Eraser Pro reverts to the free edition.
