There are some problems with current user interface (I even managed to wipe some very important data with it...). Deleting a single document (or target) is basically an adventure, 7-8 clicks plus prone to errors:
1. User right click on target (file or folder) - an extra click is required to select "erase" entry; Maybe once in the lifetime I may select "Secure move", I rather copy the file then delete the source.
2. Administrator privileges required - another extra click.
3. Dialog appears: "Are you sure you want to delete the selected items?" - of course, but which one? I don't see the target at this stage, which is extremely important. I did a wrong selection last time, and after 5 extra clicks I still made a mistake.
4. Option required - most of them useless... 99% of the time I want to delete selection immediately. 36 passes is mostly useless on modern hard disks...
5. The process start, the window dissapear by itself, systray notification that everything was ok. User confused of what really happened.
6. If any error, no notification..... you need to read the log by yourself. Most likely, if you scheduled it for later, you may forget undeleted files on disk.
7. In the end Eraser still up in systray. I dont want it there, the job is done, it should end. Try to click systray icon, the Eraser window wont appear.... need right click and show.
8, Right click + Exit, so 2 more extra clicks... So many steps will even confuse you to remember or see the name of the target.
I propose a light version, more user oriented than for administrators.
1. User right click the target - context menu "Erase" no additional menu entries
2. A dialog appears, the target is shown and two buttons "Erase" and "Cancel". It's basically a confirmation for permanently deleting the target with target shown.
3. If the user clicks Cancel, program ends.
4. If the user click "Wipe", the erasure begins, the progress or current file is shown. If its a long process, the user is free to switch to other application, no need for extra threads.
5. If no error, Erasure ends, no messages.
6. If any error, erasure stops at error file, the user can click "Go to error (file)" and the explorer opens up to the file, so the user can check attributes, security etc.
7 If the user fixed the error, he will fire up Erasure again or can continue in the last dialog.
Basically, instead of 8 clicks to delete a document it can be done in 2 steps, safer.
It would be a nice to have feature in original Erasure package, done by its developers, but if anyone wants to contribute, the sources of Erasure are public.
I made such a interface before knowing about Eraser, I gave it up because simply overwriting the files with C# libraries doesn't really overwrite them (windows cache or whatever). It can be used as a start, basically the interface could be linked to Eraser code that delete the target.
1. User right click on target (file or folder) - an extra click is required to select "erase" entry; Maybe once in the lifetime I may select "Secure move", I rather copy the file then delete the source.
2. Administrator privileges required - another extra click.
3. Dialog appears: "Are you sure you want to delete the selected items?" - of course, but which one? I don't see the target at this stage, which is extremely important. I did a wrong selection last time, and after 5 extra clicks I still made a mistake.
4. Option required - most of them useless... 99% of the time I want to delete selection immediately. 36 passes is mostly useless on modern hard disks...
5. The process start, the window dissapear by itself, systray notification that everything was ok. User confused of what really happened.
6. If any error, no notification..... you need to read the log by yourself. Most likely, if you scheduled it for later, you may forget undeleted files on disk.
7. In the end Eraser still up in systray. I dont want it there, the job is done, it should end. Try to click systray icon, the Eraser window wont appear.... need right click and show.
8, Right click + Exit, so 2 more extra clicks... So many steps will even confuse you to remember or see the name of the target.
I propose a light version, more user oriented than for administrators.
1. User right click the target - context menu "Erase" no additional menu entries
2. A dialog appears, the target is shown and two buttons "Erase" and "Cancel". It's basically a confirmation for permanently deleting the target with target shown.
3. If the user clicks Cancel, program ends.
4. If the user click "Wipe", the erasure begins, the progress or current file is shown. If its a long process, the user is free to switch to other application, no need for extra threads.
5. If no error, Erasure ends, no messages.
6. If any error, erasure stops at error file, the user can click "Go to error (file)" and the explorer opens up to the file, so the user can check attributes, security etc.
7 If the user fixed the error, he will fire up Erasure again or can continue in the last dialog.
Basically, instead of 8 clicks to delete a document it can be done in 2 steps, safer.
It would be a nice to have feature in original Erasure package, done by its developers, but if anyone wants to contribute, the sources of Erasure are public.
I made such a interface before knowing about Eraser, I gave it up because simply overwriting the files with C# libraries doesn't really overwrite them (windows cache or whatever). It can be used as a start, basically the interface could be linked to Eraser code that delete the target.
