Square Privacy Cleaner, Clean Privacy Related Data In Windows
The Windows operating system and software that is running on it have a tendency to save temporary data. A web browser for instance saves cookies, visited websites and the operating system recently opened files or folders.
That is a privacy nightmare as it is possible to use the temporary data to create an activity profile of the system's users. But privacy is not the only concern here. These temporary information need space on the hard drive. It can happen that these files occupy one Gigabyte or more of hard drive space.
Square Privacy Cleaner is a new privacy software from the Novirus Thanks developers.
The program divides the available cleaning options in five tabs at the top. Each tab lists multiple temporary file locations that can be cleaned. Selections can be made manually, or by clicking on Actions > Select All to clear data in all available locations at once.
The program lacks an option to select all locations of a tab though which means that most users will have to make manual adjustments.
A click on Delete Traces will delete the information stored in all selected locations.
How does the tool compare to CCleaner? Square Privacy Cleaner appears to the faster, but this can be attributed to the fact that it does not display information about each storage location prior to deleting the data. Most of the available locations are supported by CCleaner as well. And the tool has the additional advantage of advanced options, like the ability to add custom locations or excluding specific cookies from being cleaned with the rest.
Still, Square Privacy Cleaner shows some prospect. It could become a CCleaner contender, if the developers start adding additional options, like the ones mentioned in this review. For the moment though, it is a solid alternative but not a contender.
The privacy cleaner is available as a portable version and installer for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows at the developer website. (via JKWebTalks)
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Although Square Privacy Cleaner lacks the ability to select all for a tab, it has the ability to select all for all tabs…select “Select All Traces” under the “Actions” columnar tab.
CCleaner is a more mature offering that has the resources to keep on top of bugs and regularly posts new versions, more recently an enhancer has been developed:
CCleaner (500 million downloads)
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
+
Enhancer
http://thewebatom.net/programs/ccleaner-enhancer/
Though no one solution will suit all and some may find Square does what they need. I have also found the following of use:
Bleachbit (Windows and Linux)
http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/
Eraser (Open Source)
http://eraser.heidi.ie/