Looking for a file shredder

I had been using nCleaner for a couple years and was happy with it until one day, I went to empty my Recycle Bin using the right-click-shred-with-nCleaner option, and my PC locked up for about 30 seconds, then errored out and required a reboot. The same thing happened any time I tried to use nCleaner after that so I uninstalled it. Everything has been OK since then. I've run malware scans (100% clean), performed my regular maintenance, etc. I really liked how nCleaner had entries in the right-click context menu for file shredding, and right-clicking the Recycle Bin had an option to shred the bin instead of emptying it. Shredding took longer naturally, but that's expected. So I'm looking for new shredder that 'merges' with the right-click context menu. I tried Glary Utilities but no luck there. It has a shredder, but not an on-demand right-click shredder. Any ideas?

Thanks. :-D

[dlb]

 

Hi dlb,

This one's pretty good http://www.pctools.com/privacy-guardian/

Techsent

 

I'm confused dlb. What's that 'Wipe with Glary Utilities' option in the right click context menu? For me it comes up with a warning saying you are about to delete all files in the list and won't be able to recover them with any recovery tool you may have.

 

:confused I don't have it in my right-click menus. That's weird. Now that you mention it, I had Glary installed on a different PC a few months ago and I remember it being in the right click menu. Freekin' PCs. You just can't rely on 'em to do the same thing twice! LOL Maybe I need to reboot after installing it, or maybe it's the newer release. The last time I installed Glary, it didn't have the Ask toolbar bundled, and now it does. Maybe I should try to find an older release.

@ plodr: I tried Eraser on a different PC a few weeks ago and wasn't really happy with it, but I'm willing to give it another shot...

 

I'm confused with the Glary version numbering system. I just found a version from Sept 2008 and it's v2.6x.x, but the newest version at the Glary site is 2.14.x.x. Does this make any sense to anyone? Both downloads were the freeware version. So I downloaded and installed it, I rebooted, and still no joy with a right-click-shred feature.
:confused

 

Seems I have v2.12.0.xxx. Anyway try checking under Glary's '>menu' to the right of the main window tabs. Should be a 'settings' selection. Under the 'general' tab there is a section for selecting what options you want integrated in explorer's context menu.

As far as the versions, I've updated several times and haven't really noticed any changes to the layout of the program and I don't really use it enough to notice any change in function or usability. The version I have installed now is from March. Haven't gotten around to updating it of late.

 

CCleaner doesn't actually shred files does it? I thought it only deleted 'em. I think I'll give plodr's suggestion another shot. I tried using Eraser about 2 months ago, but I was primarily looking to wipe entire drives. Now I just want a secure shredder for personal use on my home PC. That was all I used nCleaner for; I used the right-click-shred feature on files and the recycle bin, and once every month or two I'd run the "Shred free space" feature....

 

Yes, Ccleaner can shred, under Options, settings. "Secure Deletion" Also, wipe free space.

 

Believe CCleaner overwrites, the more overwrites, the slower the delete process. jkdefrag gui has a freespace wipe as well.

 

Thanks for the info about CCleaner. I looked at the setting but it seems as if everytime I use it it has to be 'normal delete' or 'secure delete'. I can't just use 'secure delete' for some stuff and 'normal' for other stuff w/o having to open the GUI and manually change the setting each time. It would be really nice to simply have a "securely shred this" as a choice on the right click menu when I right click the Recycle Bin. Having a "secure shred" option on files and folders would be great too, but I'd settle for it on the Recycle Bin only if necessary....

 

:-D So I downloaded and installed Eraser. It has EXACLTY what I'm looking for. It integrates into the right click context menu so I can choose to delete any file or folder using the secure Eraser, or normally send it to the Recycle Bin... and I can then either securely Erase the bin's contents with a simple right-click, or just empty it as usual. :cool Cool. Just what I needed. I think that I may have used a different app a few weeks ago when I thought I was actually using Eraser, 'cuz the app I just installed is totally different; from the icon all the way to the functionality, it's not anything close to what I remember.....

THANKS PLODR for the suggestion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:celebrate

[dlb]

 

UPDATE- I used Eraser for about 10 days and I like it, but I don't like the balloon messages popping up. However, I found out that the Sysinternals Suite has a command line shredder called "SDelete". It can also be downloaded separately from here. I simply used a batch file which is on my desktop as a "shred bin". I have it next to the Recycle Bin. To shred a file or folder, I simply drag the item(s) to the batch file icon on the desktop and drop 'em. A warning comes up, and that's it. It's fast and easy, and can be customized to use any number of overwrites for varying levels of shredness. If you regularly shred lots of files and folders (or large files and folders), it might be a good idea to set the number of passes at 2 or 3 to make things quicker. I have it set at 4 passes and it's pretty freekin fast for most things. All the info about the command line parameters and the correct syntax and usage can be found at the 2nd link I posted (or here). Here's the batch file for those of you interested:

Just copy-n-paste the above code into Notepad, and use "Save as.." to save it to your desktop as a .bat file. Then get your hands on the Sysinternals Suite (or download SDelete on its own) and put a copy of sdelete.exe in your C:\Windows\System32 folder. Easy! You can change the text in the 'echo' lines above to say whatever you like.
:-D

[dlb]

(BTW- I "stole" the above info from another web site so I can't take credit for it rolleyes LOL )

(BTW #2 - I thought a screen shot of the lower right corner of my desktop would illustrate what I was talking about)

 

Every time I used Eraser to shred anything, a balloon would come up saying "Task scheduled" and as soon as the shred was finished, "Task completed" would come up. So, essentially two balloons came up: one right after the other. I shortened the message from the balloons; there was much more wording that just "Task scheduled" and "Task completed" but you get the idea. However- now that I've been using the batch file for SDelete, I'm not real happy with it either (jeez I'm picky!). It is ULTRA fast on smaller things, but just as a test I shredded a 3gb video file. It took about 4-5 minutes, which isn't a big deal, but a command prompt window stays open on the desktop until the file/folder is completely wiped.... the more I try out different shredders, the more I miss nCleaner. It was low-key, unobtrusive, fast, no pop-ups or balloons, it freekin rocked and I'm about ready to try it again. The only reason I removed after 2+ years was that one day it locked up my PC 3 times while trying to shred, so I removed it. I think I'm going to give it another shot, unless plodr can provide a link to an older Eraser release

 

After a bit of creative surfing, I found an older release of Eraser at SourceForge, version 5.7 from 2003. I'll give it a shot and hopefully it's balloon-free. For those interested, here's the link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/files/

 

I was using the 6.0 RC available here at Major Geeks: http://majorgeeks.com/Eraser_d4221.html I just now re-installed it so I could take a screenshot or two to illustrate what I'm talking about.... I also tried the older 5.7 from SourceForge and it's even more intrusive with its own window that opens everytime I tried to shred something...

 

Yeah, I'm trying to avoid any type of window or balloon or pop-up or whatever. I just want to shred w/o any notifications or 'advice' or progress indicators. That's why I liked nCleaner so much. I just installed it, and used the right-click-shred feature when needed, and used the shred-free-space feature once every month or two, and I liked it. nCleaner has a ton of other things it can do, but all I needed was the shredding, and I'm going to try it again. The only reason I uninstalled it was 'cuz it started locking up my PC for no apparent reason after using it happily for 18 months or so.....

 

I am using version 5.8.7 I have no pop ups when erasing something. Maybe, do you have the scheduler turned on to start with windows? There is a option to turn off "task bar tray icon" maybe this also controls the balloon pop ups? Somewhere I think you are missing a setting because I don't see any pop ups..

 

I just installed 5.8.7. I unchecked and re-checked each box in the Edit>Preferences>General menu, and in the Scheduler menu. I appreciate all of the assistance here, but it seems as if there is ALWAYS a window or progress indicator or something when using Eraser. When I right click and choose "Erase" I get a "are you sure?" prompt, followed by a progress window (screen shot attached below). What I'm looking for is a COMPLETELY SILENT file shredder. When I right click and select "shred", I'm doing it on purpose and I don't need to be warned about it. I don't need to see a progress bar showing me how much shredding is taking place or how much time is left on a particular shred. I don't care. I have no problems with living with the consequences of my actions. If I shred something by mistake, well, that's my fault for being too hasty or not paying attention or drinking too much. I'm an adult and I'll deal with it.

Whoa. A bit of a rant there.... :-o Sorry.

I want a silent shredder that shreds when I need shredding. That's it. nCleaner did that. I'm going to try it again.

 

:cry :banghead So I reinstalled nCleaner, and it still won't work on my PC anymore. So I went to the nCleaner support forums and found that MANY people have the same problem I'm having: the program installs OK, but if I try to shred ANYTHING with it, my PC restarts immediately. The weird thing is that I used nCleaner for over a year w/o any problems with shredding. Then, one day out-of-the-blue, my PC would reboot when I tried using nCleaner. Their forums show me that this is a common problem with nCleaner. So, for now, I will be using the shred method I explained in an earlier post, number 16 in this thread.

 

Hey dlb, check todays MG, a new shredder just showed.

[URL="http://www.majorgeeks.com/FCleaner__d6021.html"[/URL]

Don't know anything about it. Just happened to see it.

 

Thanks. I'm already familiar with FCleaner, and it's an excellent cleaner similar to CCleaner. Not really what I'm looking for, but thanks anyway.

I took another look at Glary Utilities and re-installed it. I think I mentioned before that I didn't have the "Wipe with Glary" feature in the right click context menu. As it turns out, there's an option in the Glary Utils settings that will add this option to the right click menu for files and folders. So this works fine. Combined with my SHRED icon I have on the desktop (see post #16 above), I think my file shredding needs are covered. Finally. rolleyes

Many thanks to all of you that offered insight and helpful advice in this quest for shred. It is truly appreciated. :-D :major

[dlb]

 

4 months later . . . .

UPDATE- it seems that Glary Utilities does not integrate into the right-click context menu with Win7 x64, so I've been using the "shred" icon as I detailed in post #16. It works fine with Win7 x64 if you use the same instructions posted earlier. I really miss a right-click-shred feature, especially one without any progress indicator, or "are you sure" prompting, or balloons, or anything else. For now, I'm using my SHRED.BAT method with Win7 X64 and it's OK.



But . . . . ahhhhh . . . . . . nevermind . . . . . I've been drinking again . . . . . :drink


:wine Happy Holidays!!! :wine

[dlb]

 

Oh yeah.... one other thing.... you can save the .BAT file anywhere you want.... just put a shortcut to it on your desktop. You can drag-n-drop your shreddables to the shortcut and get the same results....