BCWipe Tips & Tricks
Transparent Wiping Enforcer Misc.
1. File slacks
When you save a file, the individual bytes of information are stored on the disk in clusters. When you delete a file, only the reference to the file name is deleted from the file system. It's important to note that the individual bytes of the original file information are not removed from the disk. They stay there, a silent witness to your activity, - FOREVER, - or until they're overwritten. It is possible but not always definite that the bytes of a subsequently saved file might overwrite the bytes of the original file. But the operating system decides where it stores information and you can't predict what will happen.
Furthermore if the file No2 is not quite as large as file No1 (or for a host of other reasons) the process of saving file No2 may not overwrite ALL of file No1. This means that there may be some bytes of file No1 left at the end of a cluster. This is called a slack and it is possible to retrieve information form Slacks which may compromise your business success or domestic happiness.
Wiping file slacks is time consuming. But many files are stored on disk for a long time (such as those in the Windows folders). Once slacks have been wiped in files like this, it's not necessary to do it again and BCWipe can be configured accordingly. 'Use Skipped List' feature allows you to disregard selected folders.
2. Swap file
If wiping the swap file takes a long time, you can deselect the function and enable CryptoSwap for transparent encryption of the swap file.
3. Wiping email
To wipe deleted email, compact the email database and then run the 'Wipe Free Space' command.
4. Recycle Bin with Norton
If your Recycle Bin is protected by Norton, you should use BCWipe Task Manager to completely wipe the Bin at start-up.