The operating system basically deletes the files information from the system while leaving the file itself on the storage device. File recovery software like Undelete Plus, Pandora Recovery or Recuva may restore those files. Windows will use the storage space of the deleted files eventually which means that they will eventually become partially and then fully unrecoverable.

Eraser on the other hand speeds up that process by overwriting the entire space a file occupied on the computer’s hard drive. Once done it is no longer possible to recover the file with file recovery software or other means.

For some time now I received the error message “Eraser has stopped working” when trying to start the software. Running the software with administrative privileges, from the context menu or in compatibility mode did not resolve the issue.

Uninstallation and re-installation of Eraser did not resolve the issue either. Then I discovered that Eraser was using a folder in the application directory, and that the file Task List.ersx was in that folder. The path of the Eraser folder is C:\Users\Martin\AppData\Local\Eraser 6 under 64-bit editions of Windows 7.

Made a backup first and deleted the file afterwards from the folder. After that, Eraser was starting up just fine without error message or other issues.

Windows users who are receiving the “Eraser has stopped working” error when trying to start the program should check the application directory to see if it too contains a Task List.ersx file and if it does, delete it to resolve the issue.

Prevent Restore is an easy to use software that can be used to wipe the free space of a hard drive. It is in this regard an alternative to the popular free program Eraser which can be configured to do the same.

Prevent Restore displays a list of hard drives on startup which can be selected for the disk wipe process.

Only the drive letters are shown in that menu which might make the identification more complicated than necessary. Users should also make sure that they do not (accidentally) select a SSD for the process.

A total of five different algorithms are available of which only one is provided to users who have not registered the software. The replace with spaces option is available to those users. Registered users who have to pay $9.95 to do so can also select random characters or digits, Peter Gutmann algorithm or the Department of Defense algorithm.

The program has not changed a lot since our first review of it in 2008. Most features that have been added have only been added to the commercial version of the program. (see Erase Files for our first review)

Prevent Restore is an alternative to Eraser, especially for users who have troubles with the program. Eraser is on the other hand the disk wipe program with a better functionality and choices. There is no need to use Prevent Restore if Eraser is working properly.

Blank And Secure is a portable software program to securely erase files on a computer system. The program offers several means to do that. The user can drag and drop files into the program area. The files and folders dropped into the interface can then be erased by clicking on the Delete button. The files will be overwritten between one and 35 times.

A weakness of the program, at least from our perspective, is the fact that it will only overwrite the data with nulls. There are no other algorithms implemented.

The program will count down from five before starting the deletion, pressing ESC will cancel the process. The second option offered by the file eraser is to wupe the free space on the hard drive so that files that had been placed there in the past cannot be recovered. This option makes it possible to complete erase the data on a hard drive after a format.

Blank and Secure is an interesting straightforward program. There are alternatives like Eraser which is offered as a portable version and installer. It offers different deletion algorithms which might appeal to some users.

Why would someone walk the extra mile and erase files that already have been deleted in Windows? The answer to that question is simple: Windows does not really delete the file, it only deletes the reference to the file which tells the system where files are located on the hard drive. It’s like loosing the address of a friend’s house. You could not point your finger on it on a map but it is still existing and calling the friend would reveal its location again.

Files can be recovered if they have not been erased properly. The age of a file plays a role in determining the chances of success. A rule of thumb is that new files have a higher chance to be recovered than files that have been deleted a while ago.

Prevent Restore was designed with ease of use in mind. The user picks a partition that he wants to erase files from, selects the type of data that should replace the deleted files and the program does all the hard work in the background. It uses several security algorithms to overwrite the deleted data on the hard drive ensuring that the data cannot be recovered with recovery software.

So how does it compare to Eraser? The user interface of Prevent Restore is not providing many options to choose from. This is less confusing but advanced computer users might miss features that Eraser offers. Eraser on the other hand comes with options that Prevent Restore does not offer. This includes the selection of the data algorithm to erase files or a scheduler that performs the operation regularly.

Eraser can also erase existing files and folders securely and it does support all Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 95 on while Prevent Restore is only compatible to Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Advanced users will most likely stick with Eraser while beginners might tend to work with Prevent Restore to erase files on their system.

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann’s paper “Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory” and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive.

It happens to the best of us, we never like to throw away old computers, because they can be useful for spare parts, or so we think. So after a while we end up with an attic full of old computers that, let’s face it, should have been thrown out years ago. They stack up in a corner collecting dust, seemingly multiplying as well, until one day we say enough is enough, and decide to finally do something about them.

So a few hours of vulture picking goes on, as any useful parts are stripped from these old machines. (They will go into a box, destined to remain in the attic, only to be thrown out a few years later). Eventually all you will have left is a few cases, maybe a PSU or two, and a whole bunch of hard drives that by today’s standards are far to small to bother keeping.

Now, if you’re security conscious, you won’t just want to throw those old hard drives away. What’s on them? What happens if there’s some personal information or pictures on those drives that you wouldn’t want others to see? You can’t just throw them out, however unlikely it is they’d be read again. One option is to take a sledgehammer to them, or for the slightly less violent of us, why not try downloading a file called Eraser 5.7. As a matter of fact, Eraser 6 is out now, but it doesn’t work on older computers, so if you’re talking about Windows 98, 2000, or ME, then 5.7 is the one you need. You’ll need to download it from Sourceforge (the link above redirects to the download page there).

Eraser allows you to completely wipe the contents off your drive securely. You probably already know that files you delete normally aren’t actually deleted. It’s just the address of those files that gets wiped, and the original file remains on the disk until it’s overwritten with new data. Eraser has the ability to wipe the disk by copying new data, (usually binary ones and zeros), multiple times across the disk, making anything that was on the disk completely unreadable.

You can set the erase job to overwrite with one pass, three passes, seven passes (this is what the US department of defense uses), or an incredible 35 passes that is more that enough to permanently get rid of any files that may be present. What’s more you can even set up custom jobs of any number of passes you like. Bear in mind however, that the more passes you use, the longer the job will take. Eraser is fairly quick though, and you can use it in the background.

Probably the best thing to do if you have lots of drives to wipe, is set up a computer to act as a master. Then attach each drive in turn and wipe them. This will ensure all data has been erases permanently, and you’re free to throw them away, or use them as doorstops, whatever you choose.