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BCWipe FAQ
1. Using BCWipe
1.1 I have downloaded and installed BCWipe. However, I do not fully understand how to use it. Would you please help me to understand how to use this program?
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The Delete with wiping command should appear. Choose suitable options from the BCWipe window.
To Wipe Free Space on a drive, please right-click with your mouse on the location in the drive string in the left pane of Windows Explorer. A pop-up context menu should appear which contains the Wipe Free Space command. Choose suitable options from the BCWipe window.
Attention!
We strongly recommend running a disk checking utility before wiping free space on a drive! BCWipe allocates all available system resources during its operation. So if there are any errors or virus activity on the hard drive before running BCWipe, then they could cause more serious problems just after using BCWipe.
BCWipe also includes the BCWipe Task Manager utility for configuring BCWipe to run wiping tasks automatically. You can set a time for running the task, as well as other special options.
BCWipe now includes the Transparent Wiping feature (introduced in version 4.0) that intercepts all ‘delete' commands sent by the user or by the system and securely wipes the data files. Furthermore, all temporary files created by Windows or by any application will be wiped when they are no longer needed. Activating Transparent Wiping eliminates time-consuming processes, such as wipe free space.
1.2 How do I use BCWipe to permanently delete Temporary Internet Files?
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BCWipe can permanently delete temporary files of common Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera). Wiping of these browsers can be performed during your Windows session; reboot is not required.
1.3 How can I protect the data in my pagefile from being recovered??
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To protect your pagefile with the current version of BCWipe, we recommend that you use the CryptoSwap utility that transparently encrypts the pagefile.
1.4 When I run Wipe Free Space, I get a screen that seems defaulted to 7 passes - the arrows to select fewer are faded out or not available. Does BCWipe offer an option to run fewer passes using the DoD scheme?
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1.5 What is file slack and is it okay to delete?
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The data in file slack (or slack space) is invisible by simple windows file editors (e.g., Notepad, MS Word), but it is easily read by any special utility. So it's important to wipe file slacks in order to have complete confidence that all your data has been permanently deleted from the disk.
1.6 Is there some way to wipe data without turning off System Restore?
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So if you need to wipe a typical text file, MS Word document, Excel workbook, some picture file and so on, then you do not have to turn the off System Restore. When wiping a file that is guarded by System Restore (see system files above), a copy of that file will be created (if you run 7-pass wiping, 7 copies will be created). If you delete a 'guarded' file with the standard 'delete' command, then the copy is created and saved. If you then run BCWipe to wipe free space, then the deleted file will be wiped, but the copy will remain because it is not marked as 'free'. If you also set the option to wipe file slacks, then System Restore will create copies of all 'guarded' files because BCWipe opens and changes the files to wipe file slacks. Therefore, the purpose of data wiping would be lost; in this case it is necessary to disable System Restore for proper wiping.
On Windows XP this is not a very critical issue - if you wipe files with System Restore ON, it would not cause a security leak because it does not concern your private data. However, it would result in an enlarged System Restore archive.
On Windows 7 and Windows Vista it is absolutely necessary to disable System Protection because it saves copies of ALL files that were changed or deleted. This concerns your data files - copies of files stored in the System Protection archive are named 'Shadow Copies'.
1.7 I have a computer that I need to get completely cleaned. I want to use BCWipe to wipe an entire hard drive. If it is only operable in a Windows environment, then I can't wipe everything. I need to know if BCWipe will run off a bootable disk and if so, how do I do that?
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Wiping an entire hard drive (or all hard drives) on a computer with BCWipe Total WipeOut is a simple procedure - just boot the computer using a BCWipe Total WipeOut bootable CD (or USB flash drive) and confirm wiping.
Learn more at http://www.jetico.com/wiping-bcwipe-total-wipe-out.
For backward compatibility reasons (computers running DOS or Windows 9x operating systems), BCWipe does also contain a special whole hard drive wiping command line utility, named BCWipePD. Jetico no longer recommends using this utility, as it is no longer updated and may not work properly on the latest versions of operating systems and hardware.
1.8 Does BCWipe work on a RAID configuration? Can it wipe removable disks? Are Solid-State Disks supported?
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1.9 Does BCWipe support 5220.22-M standard?
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2. Technical Problems
2.1 I have used BCWipe to wipe the free space on my hard drive and now windows keeps telling me that my drive is full, but explorer says I have still 1.75GB left. What happened and what I can do to fix it?
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If the free space has not returned after wiping, then it means that BCWipe could not delete temporary files for some reason. Please try to delete them manually ('~BCWipe.tmp' ) or run BCWipe again and let it finish its job.
2.2 When using BCWipe to wipe file slack, Windows complains that some system files are modified and suggests I should reinstall them.
Show/Hide Answer Note that if you skip some folders, private information may remain inside the file slack space. For example, you've just deleted a sensitive file and then the Windows Update process has started and occupies the space. Now the 'wipe free space' operation won't wipe this sensitive file because the space is no longer free, and the 'wipe file slacks' operation won't wipe it because you skipped the Windows folder. Even if you don't skip any folder, the security hole exists because Windows doesn't allow BCWipe (or any other application) to open some system files for writing. As a result, BCWipe cannot wipe the slack space and honestly reports it in the log file.
Windows System Agent (or Event Manager, or your antivirus software) may detect and report the change. You should ignore this message and confirm the system file replacement. If you let BCWipe complete its task, then it will restore the file in the same state as before wiping - except of course that the file slack will be wiped.
You can assign some files or folders to be skipped during file slack wiping. Please do the following:
So what is the solution?
The best solution is to enable Transparent Wiping so you don't need to worry anymore about sensitive information residing in file slacks or free space.
2.3 I activated Transparent Wiping, but how can I tell if it is really working?
Show/Hide Answer LogViewer will show you the Transparent Wiping process in progress. You will see which process initiated the deletion, what the file name is and whether or not the wipe was successful.
- Open/Close applications like MSWord, Internet browser, email program, etc.
- Run system procedures like Disk CleanUp, Empty Recycle Bin, disable System Protection, etc.
2.4 I activated Transparent Wiping, but my system performance has decreased considerably. What can I do?
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