Tracks Eraser not erasing...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Moff
  • Start date Start date
M

Moff

During testing of Microsoft AntiSpyware Tracks Eraser I
notice that not all the tracks that are said to be erased
are actually erased.

List of issues so far:
1. Index.dat system file is not erased. This file
contains information as to the sites visited. It is
possible to open this file in Notepad and read history
information.
2. History folders remain intact. The URL content of the
history folders are erased but folders such as Today,
Yesterday, 3 days ago etc remain. If I wanted to erase my
tracks I would not want people to know I had ever touched
IE. Deleting these folders is a must.
3. Temporary Internet Files are not deleted for the local
user folder. This leaves any image file, cab file or
other downloaded file some of which can be tracked to
certain websites.
4. Auto complete erase does not remove form information
from WebPages such as Google. This means people could
read what information you entered in to forms or what
searches you executed on this PC.

Some features that would be nice to add is:
- To erase all files in the users TEMP folder. This would
ensure any logging, install information or unneeded temp
files are inaccessible.
- Remove all NetHood entries to delete tracks of network
shares you have been connected to in the past.

The Tracks Eraser option is a nice thing to have, but
without having 100% confidence that it is going to do
it's job correctly and in every area possible it might as
well be removed.
 
Safe mode seems to make no difference.
I don't think it is a case of it can not delete the file
because it is in use or does not have rights. I think the
issue is that the app does not even attempt to delete the
files I mentioned.

I see this tool as being a good feature, but unless you
can use it with confidence then it is useless.

Microsoft either need to make it cover everything or
remove it and leave this job to third party tools.

Moff
 
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