Does CCleaner Make Eraser Obselete?

CCleaner for Windows
1

Hi,

I have this program called Eraser installed, which basically provides secure deletion of files and also has the wipe free space option.

Now CCleaner does both of these, would it make Eraser obselete, e.g is it worth uninstalling it?

Or does Eraser have a better method of doing this things?

2

Hi tornado

in reply to your question the answer is absolutely NO. You have lost the point of what CC does. CC is designed to clear all the useless junk from your PC and it does a very good job of doing it. On the other hand eraser is designed to serurely erase files/data for good and this too does a very good job of doing it. I would recomend using version 5.7 and no higher as Joel took over the project from the next version onwards

Hope this info helps you

Regards.

3

I frequently use Eraser to tidy up as I go along. This is done with the right-click context menu and could be from any disk location ... I can't readily do that with ccleaner.

4
I frequently use Eraser to tidy up as I go along. This is done with the right-click context menu and could be from any disk location ... I can't readily do that with ccleaner.

And I with File Shredder, after having too many problems with Eraser on Vista.

5
And I with File Shredder, after having too many problems with Eraser on Vista.

I just noticed Eraser is now out at V6 ... you might want to try it if you're not in the "oh no Joel" camp ;)

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. . . "oh no Joel" camp ;)

HA! I love it! :lol:

7
in reply to your question the answer is absolutely NO.

Exactly.

However I steer very clear of new builds of Eraser, using the old v5.7 myself from 2003 which is tried and true, and doesn't install all that WinSxS stuff, etc.

8
Exactly.

However I steer very clear of new builds of Eraser, using the old v5.7 myself from 2003 which is tried and true, and doesn't install all that WinSxS stuff, etc.

Im exactly the same,.

i use eraser for shell exstention and wipe free space. No offence to ccleaner. it's most likely the best junk cleaner in the world. But it's wfs is not in the same league as erasers.

9
i use eraser for shell exstention and wipe free space. No offence to ccleaner. it's most likely the best junk cleaner in the world. But it's wfs is not in the same league as erasers.

Which is almost exactly word for word what I was gonna say ;) (oh and also another user of version 5.7 only, I gave up trying post 5.8 releases due to bugs, including one OS killer!)

10

Does Eraser actually just delete files and leave the file names in the MFT like CCleaner use to do or does it overwrite them like in the images at this link:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=25905

11

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, I guess the answer is a resounding no!

However i'm a bit confused here, as I thought CCleaner both removes junk and does this securely. Just for clarification:

- Are we suggesting that Erasers WFS option should be used over CCleaner (in respect to performance, security)

- Are we also confirming that "Erasing" a file with Eraser is a better option rather than just clearing the Recycle bin from CCleaner with a one-pass overwrite or something?

I just thought a 1-pass overwrite in CCleaner and using a 1-pass overwrite in Eraser on the same file would have exactly the same outcome?

Anyhow happy holidays hotrod, marmite, kroozer, andavari, ident , jdpower and deke!

12
I just thought a 1-pass overwrite in CCleaner and using a 1-pass overwrite in Eraser on the same file would have exactly the same outcome?

As far as file-wiping goes then yes.

However for freespace wiping rumour has it that ccleaner only does one pass of zeros. Unless you want more than that (and there's no reason why you should) then effectively they do the same thing. However Eraser gives you more options for wiping freespace, like once with random data through to the pointless full Gutmann erase. Not sure on the performance angle; I don't use either tool for freespace wiping - just to confuse matters I use Sysinternals' sdelete for that :)

So as far as I know they work as well as each other for my needs. But as my first post said they are just different tools used at different times. For secure deletion they just complement each other.

Season's greetings to you too tornado :)