browsers , when using Facebook , or when we’re on our mobile phones . Traces of private information can linger around indefinitely if it’s not manually removed. There are many tools out there that clear passwords and other private data but another issue arises apart from this, like when data isn’t entirely removed from a drive. A hacker can still obtain old data even if you’ve deleted it. One such tool to ensure no traces are left behind after deleting private data is called Privazer. Let’s take a look at scanning a drive with Privazer, see what it can remove, and then see how it compares with a couple other privacy cleaners.
Clean with Privazer
Privazer has two sets of settings: Basic user and Advanced user. We’re going to stick with the Basic user first, but the option can be changed at the top left of the main window. The main section of the window is an indicator for where Privazer should scan. The default is set to Scan in-depth but you could choose any other more precise location. Beneath the scanning parameters drop down list is a section for choosing which device the program should scan. Choose any of one of these and press Ok. At the top left of the next page, choose the drop down list and select the drives to scan. Choose more than one by selecting all that should apply. On the lower half of this same window, select the type of files that should be scanned. Select the checkbox that says Start cleaning if you want to remove all the traces once the scan has completed. Otherwise, the removal process will be done manually. During the scanning process, the blocks at the top of the page indicate the progress until completion. Notice the numbers next to the sections. This indicates the amount of files found that can be cleaned. Press Clean to remove these junk files.
Privazer vs CCleaner and JetClean
CCleaner is usually the program many will say outweighs everything else. While I love to use CCleaner, it’s important to recognize the superiority in some other lesser-known programs. JetClean is also a privacy cleaner, but it too only shares some features with Privazer. I scanned my computer in full with CCleaner and then cleaned everything up that it could find. This includes software remnants and other junk files. I did the exact same with JetClean: removed every application and windows temporary files it could find. To compare the functionality of Privazer, I then did a full system clean with it to see if it was able to find and clean even more files than the other two freeware programs. Switching to Advanced user, I scanned the entire local disk and found traces of items that need to be removed. Here are the results of the three scans: CCleaner: Removed 570 MB of privacy issues, among other things. JetClean: Found an additional 4 MB CCleaner missed. Privazer: Nearly half of the drive’s free space has residual traces of files that should be wiped clean. Neither of the other two programs found this glaring issue. The important thing to remember is that while CCleaner and JetClean are efficient at their purposes, they don’t clean every possible area where some privacy remnants could be lingering. Use CCleaner for the functions it provides, and JetClean for further privacy sweeps. However, Privazer is able to clean where these two don’t, and should therefore be used as an addition to any set of software programs to maintain computer privacy.
Conclusion
Privazer can remove the traces of private data it finds deep in the system. If you already have CCleaner or another temp file cleaner like JetClean installed, there’s no need to remove it. Each performs unique operations necessary for combating privacy concerns and you could always keep more than one on the system.
