| 1 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 2 | NOTE: This version uses a new installer system. You MUST remove |
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| 3 | ALL EARLIER VERSIONS before installing this Beta. When installing |
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| 4 | an earlier stable build, UNINSTALL the Beta first. |
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| 5 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 6 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 7 | Eraser 5.87 beta 5: Latest changes |
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| 8 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 9 | - Timestamp all binaries on top of signing with the beta certificate |
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| 10 | - Fixed dragged-and-dropped tasks to the On-Demand pane. The computer |
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| 11 | will shut down when done |
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| 12 | - Fixed scheduled tasks' completion action |
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| 13 | - Display the time when scheduled tasks are to run at midnight |
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| 14 | - Fixed a 64-bit problem for ISAAC buffer fills (semantic, not |
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| 15 | really serious) |
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| 16 | - Fixed a wrong use of the equality operator leading to files being |
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| 17 | detected as encrypted when they are not |
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| 18 | - Fixed the missing shell extension |
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| 19 | - Fixed 64-bit installs (VC runtime complained of lack of cabinet) |
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| 20 | |
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| 21 | Beta 4 Changes |
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| 22 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 23 | - Fixed error message when user deletes files and cancels in the |
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| 24 | Eraser Explorer. |
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| 25 | - Deleting tasks now require confirmation (as per Windows) |
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| 26 | - Fixed a hang when users expanded the Network bit of the file |
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| 27 | data selection dialog (now only affects Verifier) |
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| 28 | - Run the post-task operation when it is complete. |
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| 29 | - Replaced the custom file/folder selection dialog with the Windows |
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| 30 | built-in ones. |
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| 31 | - The "no files to erase" error no longer appears for file/folder |
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| 32 | erasures. |
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| 33 | - Fixed the Hotkey selection dialog in General Preferences |
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| 34 | - System passwords must be specified for it to be active. Throw |
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| 35 | an error if the user wanted a password but didn't set one |
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| 36 | - x64 compatibility fixes (NTAPI call) |
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| 37 | - The scheduler log size must be positive, the dialog enforces it |
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| 38 | now. |
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| 39 | - Allow users to tell Eraser to remember the resolve locked files |
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| 40 | setting for the current erase. Like a No to All or Yes to All |
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| 41 | button. |
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| 42 | - Implemented the deletion of run-at-reboot scheduled tasks. |
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| 43 | - Compile everything using VS 2008. |
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| 44 | |
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| 45 | Beta 3 Changes |
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| 46 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 47 | - Fixed command line error when selecting subfolders to be erased |
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| 48 | with the parent folder |
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| 49 | - Fixed a few issues with EraserL creating a registry key after an |
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| 50 | erase |
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| 51 | - Fixed the weird bug of right-clicking the various erase methods |
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| 52 | and Eraser hangs. Hopefully this resolves the problem of the |
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| 53 | file/folder selection dialog blinking and resetting the selections. |
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| 54 | - Implemented NTFS EFS file erasure (EXPERIMENTAL!) |
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| 55 | - Further complicate forensics: Set MACE to invalid values (NTFS only) |
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| 56 | - Fixed #6: Incorrect 'When Finished' option |
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| 57 | - Implemented #37: Eraser should not allow system to hibernate or |
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| 58 | standby when running |
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| 59 | - Fixed #36: Eraser overriding Windows hotkeys in context menu |
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| 60 | - Fixed #48: Inaccurate determination of process elevation |
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| 61 | |
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| 62 | Beta 2 Changes |
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| 63 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 64 | - Do not create "New Eraser Document" in the New context menu of |
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| 65 | Explorer when using a Portable version |
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| 66 | |
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| 67 | Beta 1 changes |
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| 68 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 69 | - Schedlog.txt will always be kept in the local Application Data |
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| 70 | folder. |
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| 71 | - Fixed shutdown issues after erase for NT-based computers. |
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| 72 | - Fixed erasure of recycle bin contents when the erase was cancelled. |
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| 73 | - Fixed Windows 98 compatibility. |
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| 74 | - Fixed error checking when querying for elevation. |
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| 75 | - Renamed Verify.exe to Erschk.exe. Resolved #418558. |
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| 76 | - Fixed the VC2005 redistributable being extracted over each other. |
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| 77 | when both x86 and x64 builds are selected for install. |
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| 78 | - Fixed command line error when -silent was passed to EraserL. |
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| 79 | |
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| 80 | ================================================================= |
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| 81 | CONTENTS |
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| 82 | 1. LEGAL |
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| 83 | 1.1. Copyright |
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| 84 | 1.2. License agreement and Disclaimer |
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| 85 | 1.3. Digital signature |
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| 86 | 2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS |
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| 87 | 2.1. Libraries |
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| 88 | 3. HOW TO INSTALL & UNINSTALL |
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| 89 | 3.1. Before installing |
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| 90 | 3.2. Installing |
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| 91 | 3.3. Help? |
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| 92 | 3.4. Uninstalling |
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| 93 | 4. DESCRIPTION |
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| 94 | 5. AUTHOR |
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| 95 | 5.1. Web site |
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| 96 | |
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| 97 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 98 | 1. LEGAL |
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| 99 | |
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| 100 | 1.1. Copyright |
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| 101 | |
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| 102 | Eraser Copyright © 2007-2008 by the Eraser Project. All rights |
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| 103 | reserved. |
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| 104 | Eraser Copyright © 2002-2006 by Garrett Trant. All rights |
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| 105 | reserved. |
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| 106 | Eraser Copyright © 1997-2002 by Sami Tolvanen. All rights |
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| 107 | reserved. |
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| 108 | |
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| 109 | By using this software you accept all the terms and |
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| 110 | conditions of the license agreement and disclaimer |
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| 111 | below. |
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| 112 | |
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| 113 | All registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned in |
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| 114 | this document are the property of their respective |
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| 115 | holders. |
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| 116 | |
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| 117 | 1.2. License agreement and Disclaimer |
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| 118 | |
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| 119 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it |
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| 120 | and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General |
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| 121 | Public License as published by the Free Software |
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| 122 | Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your |
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| 123 | option) any later version. |
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| 124 | |
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| 125 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be |
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| 126 | useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the |
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| 127 | implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A |
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| 128 | PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License |
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| 129 | for more details. |
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| 130 | |
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| 131 | 1.2.1 GNU General Public License |
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| 132 | The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) is attached |
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| 133 | in the file COPYING.txt |
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| 134 | |
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| 135 | 1.3. Digital signature |
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| 136 | |
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| 137 | The setup program is signed with Pretty Good Privacy |
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| 138 | (PGP) (public key available at web site) for verifying |
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| 139 | the authenticity. The signature file should be included |
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| 140 | with the archive. This file has the extension '.asc'. |
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| 141 | |
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| 142 | If you did not receive a separate digital signature file |
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| 143 | with this archive, download the official binary |
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| 144 | distribution at the home page (see section 5.1). |
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| 145 | |
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| 146 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 147 | 2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS |
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| 148 | |
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| 149 | This version of Eraser runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, |
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| 150 | 2000, XP and all editions of Vista. Windows XP x64 and all |
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| 151 | 64-bit SKUs of Vista can also be used (using the 64-bit |
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| 152 | version) |
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| 153 | |
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| 154 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 155 | 3. HOW TO INSTALL & UNINSTALL |
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| 156 | |
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| 157 | 3.1. Before installing |
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| 158 | |
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| 159 | Be sure to uninstall any previous version of Eraser |
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| 160 | before installing. |
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| 161 | |
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| 162 | If the setup program asks you to reboot Windows after |
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| 163 | installation, you must do that before running Eraser. |
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| 164 | |
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| 165 | 3.2. Installing |
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| 166 | |
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| 167 | EraserSetup.exe is a self-extracting executable containing the |
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| 168 | program files. |
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| 169 | |
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| 170 | Run EraserSetup.exe to install Eraser. The setup program will |
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| 171 | extract the files and copy them to a desired location. |
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| 172 | |
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| 173 | 3.3. Help? |
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| 174 | |
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| 175 | After installing, you can open the help file (in the |
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| 176 | Eraser directory) by double-clicking the ERASER.HLP |
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| 177 | file. |
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| 178 | |
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| 179 | You can also get answers to some frequently asked |
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| 180 | questions and read a step-by-step installation |
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| 181 | instructions at Eraser home page (see section 5.1). |
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| 182 | |
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| 183 | 3.4. Uninstalling |
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| 184 | |
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| 185 | You can uninstall Eraser normally via Control Panel, |
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| 186 | Add/Remove Programs. You should not remove the files |
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| 187 | manually because the settings in the registry would not |
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| 188 | be removed. |
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| 189 | |
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| 190 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 191 | 4. DESCRIPTION |
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| 192 | |
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| 193 | Eraser is an advanced security tool, which allows you to |
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| 194 | completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by |
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| 195 | overwriting it several times with carefully selected |
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| 196 | patterns. |
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| 197 | |
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| 198 | You can drag and drop files and folders to the on-demand |
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| 199 | eraser, use the convenient Explorer shell extension or use |
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| 200 | the integrated scheduler to program overwriting of unused |
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| 201 | disk space or, for example, browser cache files to happen |
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| 202 | regularly, at night, during your lunch break, at weekends or |
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| 203 | whenever you like. |
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| 204 | |
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| 205 | The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter |
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| 206 | Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and |
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| 207 | Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively |
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| 208 | remove the magnetic remnants from the hard disk making it |
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| 209 | impossible to recover the data. |
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| 210 | |
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| 211 | Other methods include the one defined in the National |
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| 212 | Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US |
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| 213 | Department of Defense and overwriting with pseudo-random data |
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| 214 | up to one hundred times. |
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| 215 | |
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| 216 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| 217 | 5. AUTHOR |
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| 218 | |
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| 219 | The new maintainer of this product is the Eraser Project. |
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| 220 | For more information visit |
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| 221 | http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser |
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| 222 | |
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| 223 | Sami Tolvanen, the original author of this software is a |
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| 224 | student in the university of technology in Finland. For |
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| 225 | more information, visit his home page at |
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| 226 | http://www.tolvanen.com/sami/. |
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| 227 | |
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| 228 | 5.1. Web site |
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| 229 | |
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| 230 | You can download the latest version of Eraser and the |
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| 231 | required libraries at the Eraser SourceForge page. |
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| 232 | |
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| 233 | http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=37015 |
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| 234 | |
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| 235 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
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