Bob asks:
There was an article a while ago talking about software that removes any passwords, email addresses or credit card info that your PC may have cached if you made online purchases. Anyone have a link to that MakeUseOf page or know of any free software that does that?
10 Answers -
Anonymous
September 13, 2010Hi
ERASER
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/files/
http://eraser.heidi.ie/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/how-to-delete-erase-sensitive-files-permanently/
Aibek
September 13, 2010here is the article that you need, 5 Things You Must Check Before Disposing of Old Computers
Eri
September 13, 2010I think the above commenters might be not answering the question the asker has in mind.
I think he’s thinking of things that are in the memory buffer of the browser and doing things like forms autofill (which “helpfully” remembers your credit card number even though you don’t ask it to), URL completion and remembering the password when you go to a login page.
We might be barking up the wrong tree when we talk about how to superscrub an area of the disk rather than what caches and preference files to delete in order to not be afraid to let someone else use your browser.
That’s the question I will ask (I wish I had the answer) and I think that’s the question Bob is asking.
Well I have an answer.
September 14, 2010A little utility called cleanup (http://www.stevengould.org/index.php) that searches for and moves data of your choosing permanently off your pc and it’s pretty good. even without being radical and burning all my personal data off, it saved me 200mb of space on my hard disk.
Bob
September 14, 2010You stated exactly what I was thinking Eri. Thank you for the clarification.
Thank you Aibek and ha14. I will definately check those links out!
Bob,
there is an app call CCleaner, http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-freeware-registry-cleaners-that-improve-pc-performance/ It has an option to clear the browser cache, history, passwords etc.
September 14, 2010Wes
September 18, 2010I.E. 8 : go to Tools, then select Internet Options. Select the Content tab, then in the AutoComplete section, click Settings. De-select Forms and Usernames and Passwords. Click Delete AutoComplete history, then OK. You are done.
FireFox : go to Tools, then select Options. Select the Privacy tab, then de-select “Remember search and form history”. Click Okay. To get rid of passwords, it’s Tools, Options, then the Security tab. In the Passwords section, de-select “Remember passwords for sites”. Click Saved Passwords, then click Remove All.
Hi Wes,
Thanks for the tip. It worked perfectly.
September 24, 2010Centman
September 24, 2010Thank you all for your valuable contributions. It helped me a lot.
Nidesoft
November 3, 2010Maybe you can find more you want to know from http://www.passwordreset.biz/
marshal
December 12, 2010thanks for the tip
joe
February 15, 2011remove all cookies, go to tools, option, privacy, remove all cookies
Thebetafemale
March 18, 2011There’s also a program called Identity Finder that removes all personal information from your computer…files, emails, compressed documents, browser data, etc. It will locate SS numbers, CC numbers, phone numbers, emails, addresses, drivers license numbers, and many other things and then gives you the option to delete those files or keep them. We use it at my work, which is in a lab at a university, and it is required by the university that it is run once per month. So, it’s probably pretty good software.