Joel
Active Member
Please follow these simple rules when posting in the forum when in need of help.
Give your topics meaningful titles
It does not help anyone help you when you give titles which do not specify what help you need exactly. Topics which just scream for help or give vague descriptions are usually just ignored. If you are spamming/cross posting your threads will automatically be locked, no questions asked.
When describing a problem please describe it clearly, stating the error that you receive (exact error message, please); give steps to reproduce the error so others can verify that the bug or problem you face really exists. Screenshots and other tools which help describe the error are good, but they should not be the only thing present. Remember also to state the version of Eraser you are using so that we will know which source tree to look at. If your problem pertains to file erasure problems perform the standard checking procedure before writing in.
Standard file check procedure
First check if the file can be deleted using explorer/del (in CMD). If it can't, download Handle and run it looking for open handles to the file in question. If Handle can't find files, check your NTFS permissions (in the Sharing and Security tab in File Properties).
If it is all OK, then check NTFS ownership. If that still doesn't work and if you are an administrator change the owner to another user (e.g. SYSTEM or Administrators), then change it back to yourself. That should force all open handles closed (and pray that no new handles are opened in the mean time) and then run Eraser again.
How to use Handle
Extract the ZIP to a folder (say, C:\Users\Joel\Downloads)
Start | Run | cmd | OK. if the Start menu does not contain Run, press Windows Key + R
cd C:\Users\Joel\Downloads
handle C:\Path\To\File\Or\Folder
Question-asking tips
Make sure your question has not been answered
Google or the forum search is your best friend. Check the FAQ. People hate looking at the same question asked time and time again and fuses shorten. Also, do not contribute to double/triple/quadruple posting by cross posting across forums. Such threads will be immediately deleted.
Read the manual!
Read the manual to get a feel of what Eraser does and how it works. If you cannot understand English well I believe Google does a good job translating.
I think I've found a bug!
Thank you! But before you get too excited, check that you've performed the two earlier rules first -- checking whether your problem has been described and is waiting a fix and checking against the manual to see that the behaviour is not by design. If you are very certain and have already created a ticket in Trac, that's it -- do NOT double-post on this forum.
If you are unsure, create a thread. Anyone of us in the Eraser DevTeam will try to replicate your problem. If the problem indeed exists, we will ask you to create a bug in Trac. The thread will be locked and subsequent correspondence should be on the Trac ticket. Edit the topic title (edit your first post, changing the subject) to reflect the ticket number: prepend the thread title with the ticket number. For example, if your original title was "Custom Erasure Method Editor bugs", and the Trac ticket number is #285, the new topic title will be "#285: Custom Erasure Method Editor bugs."
We are not paid
So don't expect commercial-level support. We only accept donations from people who like the program, and even so, it's offset the costs of running the supporting infrastructure for Eraser.
I hope none of you forum users will break these rules, because, it wastes time, energy and patience running through the same violations again and again.
Joel
Give your topics meaningful titles
It does not help anyone help you when you give titles which do not specify what help you need exactly. Topics which just scream for help or give vague descriptions are usually just ignored. If you are spamming/cross posting your threads will automatically be locked, no questions asked.
When describing a problem please describe it clearly, stating the error that you receive (exact error message, please); give steps to reproduce the error so others can verify that the bug or problem you face really exists. Screenshots and other tools which help describe the error are good, but they should not be the only thing present. Remember also to state the version of Eraser you are using so that we will know which source tree to look at. If your problem pertains to file erasure problems perform the standard checking procedure before writing in.
Standard file check procedure
First check if the file can be deleted using explorer/del (in CMD). If it can't, download Handle and run it looking for open handles to the file in question. If Handle can't find files, check your NTFS permissions (in the Sharing and Security tab in File Properties).
If it is all OK, then check NTFS ownership. If that still doesn't work and if you are an administrator change the owner to another user (e.g. SYSTEM or Administrators), then change it back to yourself. That should force all open handles closed (and pray that no new handles are opened in the mean time) and then run Eraser again.
How to use Handle
Extract the ZIP to a folder (say, C:\Users\Joel\Downloads)
Start | Run | cmd | OK. if the Start menu does not contain Run, press Windows Key + R
cd C:\Users\Joel\Downloads
handle C:\Path\To\File\Or\Folder
Question-asking tips
- http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2010/04/21/9999675.aspx
- http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2010/04/22/10000406.aspx
Make sure your question has not been answered
Google or the forum search is your best friend. Check the FAQ. People hate looking at the same question asked time and time again and fuses shorten. Also, do not contribute to double/triple/quadruple posting by cross posting across forums. Such threads will be immediately deleted.
Read the manual!
Read the manual to get a feel of what Eraser does and how it works. If you cannot understand English well I believe Google does a good job translating.
I think I've found a bug!
Thank you! But before you get too excited, check that you've performed the two earlier rules first -- checking whether your problem has been described and is waiting a fix and checking against the manual to see that the behaviour is not by design. If you are very certain and have already created a ticket in Trac, that's it -- do NOT double-post on this forum.
If you are unsure, create a thread. Anyone of us in the Eraser DevTeam will try to replicate your problem. If the problem indeed exists, we will ask you to create a bug in Trac. The thread will be locked and subsequent correspondence should be on the Trac ticket. Edit the topic title (edit your first post, changing the subject) to reflect the ticket number: prepend the thread title with the ticket number. For example, if your original title was "Custom Erasure Method Editor bugs", and the Trac ticket number is #285, the new topic title will be "#285: Custom Erasure Method Editor bugs."
We are not paid
So don't expect commercial-level support. We only accept donations from people who like the program, and even so, it's offset the costs of running the supporting infrastructure for Eraser.
I hope none of you forum users will break these rules, because, it wastes time, energy and patience running through the same violations again and again.
Joel