ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT 2003 User manual

User's Guide
PrivacyExpert 2003
Compute with confidence
www.acronis.com

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PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE
EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID.

Table of Contenets
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1. INSTALLING AND STARTING TO WORK WITH ACRONIS
PRIVACYEXPERT............................................................................ 8
1.1 WHAT’S INCLUDED.......................................................................... 8
1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ................................................................. 8
1.3 INSTALLING THE SYSTEM ................................................................ 8
1.4 RECOVERING ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT ....................................... 8
1.5 REMOVING THE SYSTEM.................................................................. 9
1.6 STARTING TO WORK WITH ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT ................... 9
1.6.1 THE ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT MAIN WINDOW..........................................9
1.6.2 LOGICAL SOFTWARE ORGANIZATION: SECTIONS.......................................10
1.6.3 EXECUTING PC CLEAN-UP MANUALLY .....................................................11
1.6.4 CLEAN-UP SETTINGS ................................................................................. 11
1.6.5 SEPARATE COMPONENTS CLEAN-UP SETTINGS ..........................................14
1.6.6 EXECUTING SCHEDULED PC CLEAN-UP ....................................................20
1.6.7 RENAMING CLEAN-UP VARIANTS .............................................................. 21
1.7 DATA CLEAN-UP ALGORITHMS...................................................... 22
CHAPTER 2. COMPLEX PC CLEAN-UP ........................................................... 23
2.1 ENTIRE PC CLEAN-UP.................................................................... 23
2.2 SYSTEM CLEAN-UP ........................................................................ 24
2.3 INTERNET CLEAN-UP ..................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3. SEPARATE PC COMPONENTS CLEAN-UP ................................. 25
3.1 INTERNET COMPONENTS ............................................................... 25
3.1.1 INTERNET CACHE ......................................................................................26
3.1.2 COOKIES ...................................................................................................27
3.1.3 DOWNLOADED COMPONENTS ................................................................... 28
3.1.4 LAST VISITED PAGES ................................................................................30
3.2 SYSTEM COMPONENTS .................................................................. 32
3.2.1 PAGING/SWAP FILE...................................................................................32
3.2.2 RECYCLE BIN ...........................................................................................32
3.2.3 TEMPORARY FILES....................................................................................32
3.2.4 HARD DISKS FREE SPACE .........................................................................33
3.2.5 CUSTOM FOLDERS/FILES ..........................................................................34
3.2.6 REGISTRY BACK-UPS ................................................................................35
3.2.7 FIND COMPUTERS LIST .............................................................................36
3.2.8 FIND FILES LIST........................................................................................ 37
3.2.9 RECENTLY USED DOCUMENTS LIST .........................................................38
3.2.10 WINDOWS RUN LIST .................................................................................39
3.2.11 OPENED/SAVED FILES HISTORY ...............................................................40
APPENDIX A. HARD DISK WIPING ALGORITHMS .......................................... 41
A.1 INFORMATION WIPING ALGORITHMS FUNCTIONING PRINCIPLES... 41
A.2 ALGORITHMS USED BY ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT ...................... 42
Acronis PrivacyExpert 3

Introduction
What is Acronis PrivacyExpert
Acronis PrivacyExpert provides you with complete confidentiality while
working with a stand-alone or networked personal computer (PC). The
confidentiality that Acronis PrivacyExpert delivers allows you to clean-up
trace data and Windows files by removing any evidence of your work or
Internet activities.
Unlike other software Acronis PrivacyExpert fully removes evidence of PC
usage through the use of guaranteed data destruction algorithms.
Acronis PrivacyExpert also increases PC performance by cleaning out
temporary files.
Why is it necessary to keep PC work confidential?
Working with a PC creates a number of serious security problems for user:
1. You have created and deleted multiple files on your computer. You do
not want anyone to view its content. But is a deleted file really read
protected? No! The problem is that deleted files can be easily recovered,
under the Windows operating system, to gain access to information a
user would like to conceal.
2. Windows and the most widespread browsers, Internet Explorer and
Netscape Navigator, provide very weak protection on keeping trace
Internet data private.
3. While working with a PC, you leave thousands of bytes of evidence
showing your actions (records in various system files) you don’t even
know about.
The Windows operating system keeps almost all information on your
work, including Internet connections; documents you opened, created or
deleted; sites visited; and information that had interested you (for
example, what product or service categories attracted you). In some
cases – what on-line shopping you did with credit card numbers, and
even ISP access passwords.
Your every computer action is somehow registered by Windows.
Only Acronis PrivacyExpert is the guaranteed solution to all these problems.
Acronis PrivacyExpert thoroughly checks Windows sections for evidence of
user activity and completely removes and obliterates it.
4Introduction

A user regularly using Acronis PrivacyExpert to clean up their computer can be
sure that personal data as well as information about Internet activity is only
presented in resources (files) that he/she controls.
Confidential data threats: who and what to protect from
There are three types of threats to your confidential data (user’s personal
data):
• Other computers on the Internet might try to get access to PC
disks and files directly or by loading «spy software», «Trojan
horses» to get user data, favourites, cookies, visited network
resources, etc.
It is very unpleasant in a free society to be constantly watched, but
this is what can happen while working on the Internet. One security
specialist who investigated this problem was unpleasantly surprised
when he found out that somebody tried to gain access to his PC
resources every 10-15 minutes. Today Internet users are under
constant monitoring by hackers as well as other persons and
companies intensively gathering information on PC users and use.
Under some circumstances fragments of very private personal data
might fall into hands of malicious persons to suit such ends as
blackmail, intimidation, extortion, and/or out-right fraud.
• Your work colleagues might potentially gain access to your PC from
a local area network. Can you trust everyone you work with? Are
there co-workers trying to gain access to your data with malicious
intent? And will it be pleasant for you if your boss find out that you
listen to MP3 files or surf the Internet at work?
• If you work with a home PC that is also accessed by children, can
you be sure they are not unintentionally a threat to your confidential
information?
So, for the majority of home PC users as well as company employees
protecting PC work confidentiality is an absolute must!
What Acronis PrivacyExpert enables to clean-up
Acronis PrivacyExpert software enables you to remove the evidence of your
work in any Windows section. Acronis PrivacyExpert allows you:
1. to remove Windows registry back-ups, keeping evidence of user’s
work with PC and the Internet;
2. to delete temporary files from standard Windows folders;
3. to delete custom folders/files from any disks connected to PC;
4. to clean Windows recycle bin;
5. to clean Windows paging/swap file;
Acronis PrivacyExpert 5

6. to clean hard disks free space;
7. to clean the opened/saved files history;
8. to remove the evidence from find files list and find computers list.
9. to clean Internet cache;
10. to delete cookies;
11. to delete downloaded components;
12. to clean the last visited pages journal.
Acronis PrivacyExpert unrecoverably removes evidence of user PC activity.
To clean-up a PC, Acronis PrivacyExpert uses strict algorithms for
guaranteed confidential data destruction that meet and/or exceed most
national/state standards (see 1.7 «Data Clean-up Algorithms» for details).
On the contents of the Guide or how to find the necessary information
Acronis PrivacyExpert user’s giude contains the following main chapters:
• Chapter 1 «Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis
PrivacyExpert» – contains detailed information about installation and
running Acronis PrivacyExpert, user’s interface, setting and
executing different PC clean-up variants;
• Chapter 2 «Complex PC Clean-up».
If you need to perform a complex clean-up of PC sections, read
section 2.1 «Entire PC Clean-up».
If you only need to clean Internet activity evidence only, read section
2.3 «Internet Clean-up».
If you need to perform a complex cleaning of your system from a PC,
read section 2.2 «System Clean-up».
• Chapter 3 «Separate PC Components Clean-up». If you need to
quickly clean-up separate Windows sections (components) only,
read this section.
• Appendix A «Hard Disk Wiping algorithms» – contains detailed
description of algorithms used in guaranteed confidential data
destruction from a computer hard disk.
Software use conditions
The conditions of Acronis PrivacyExpert use are listed in the supplied
«License Agreement». To be able to prove that you legally purchased and
use Acronis PrivacyExpert, you receive a registration card along with the
package. Each registration card also has its own unique number.
6Introduction

Based on current legislation the «License Agreement» is considered as a
contract between user and software vendor. The contract has the legal
effect, its violation may lead to a trial.
Illegal use or distribution of software a violation of the law and will be
prosecuted.
Technical support
Users that have legally purchased and registered their copy of Acronis
PrivacyExpert receive free technical support from Acronis. If you have problems
installing or using the system that you cannot be resolve with the help of this
Guide and readme file, please e-mail technical support. You will also need to
provide the registration number of your Acronis PrivacyExpert copy supplied with
this package.
Support URL: http://www.acronis.com/support/
E-mail: [email protected]
Acronis PrivacyExpert 7

Chapter 1. Installing and Starting
to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert
1.1 What’s Included
Acronis PrivacyExpert package includes:
• installation CD-ROM,
• this Guide,
• license Agreement,
• registration card,
• advertising information.
1.2 System Requirements
To take full advantage of Acronis PrivacyExpert you should have:
• a PC-compatible computer with a Pentium CPU or similar,
• 32 MB RAM,
• a floppy or a CD-RW drive,
• VGA monitor,
• a mouse (recommended).
1.3 Installing the System
To install the software, insert the Acronis PrivacyExpert installation CD-ROM
into the CD-ROM drive and run the program. Please carefully follow all
instructions shown in the installation wizard.
Having answered all the questions in the installation wizard and copied
PrivacyExpert files to the hard disk, you must to re-boot your PC.
1.4 Recovering Acronis PrivacyExpert
If Acronis PrivacyExpert was damaged during installation or execution, run its
installation program again. The software will determine that Acronis
PrivacyExpert has already been installed to your PC and ask if you want to
recover (update) or completely remove it from the disk.
8Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

In the installation wizard window select Recover/Update Acronis PrivacyExpert
and click Next. All Acronis PrivacyExpert files will be copied to your hard disk
again to restore the software.
1.5 Removing the System
To remove the software select Acronis ÆPrivacyExpert ÆRemove Acronis
PrivacyExpert from the Programs menu. You will see the dialog box to
confirm removal of the software from your PC hard disk.
To confirm removal click Yes. Acronis PrivacyExpert will be completely
removed from the PC hard disk.
1.6 Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert
The Acronis PrivacyExpert user interface features a standard Windows XP
icon graphical user interface (GUI) elements. We will not describe details
here, but instead pay general attention to setting and executing clean-up
variants.
1.6.1 The Acronis PrivacyExpert Main Window
Acronis PrivacyExpert is controlled from the main window. It is shown on the
screen after selecting Acronis ÆPrivacyExpert ÆPrivacyExpert from the
Programs menu. The Acronis PrivacyExpert main window is a Windows dialog
box split into two parts:
• The right part contains grouped lists of main PC clean-up variants
user may execute with Acronis PrivacyExpert;
• The left part of the window, or sidebar, is an element first
introduced in the Windows XP. It contains grouped actions that can
be performed on objects in the right part of the window.
Acronis PrivacyExpert 9

The Acronis PrivacyExpert main window
Clean-up variants are executed, set, scheduled, and renamed with the help
of corresponding items of the main menu, toolbar, sidebar, and context
menus.
1.6.2 Logical Software Organization: Sections
Logically Acronis PrivacyExpert consists of several parts, each enabling
users to perform (1) specific variants of complex PC clean-up from PC activity
evidence or (2) clean-up separate system components.
Complex PC clean-up
In the One Click Clean-up section, shown by default in the right part of the
Acronis PrivacyExpert main window, users have access to icons of three
predefined complex PC clean-up.
If you need to perform:
1. entire PC clean-up, including Windows system areas and sections related
to working on the Internet, execute Entire PC Clean-up;
2. clean-up of sections related to working on the Internet, execute Internet
Clean-up;
3. Windows system section and user files/folders clean-up, execute System
Clean-up.
Attention! Described clean-up variants are fully set up by default and ready for
immediate work after Acronis PrivacyExpert is installed. They were created for the
ma
j
ority of users to take advanta
g
e of them without understandin
g
all the advanced
settings and contain everything necessary for most users. Any of these variants can
be executed by a click of the mouse!
10 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

Cleaning separate system components
Internet Components and System Components sections allow you to
perform a quick clean-up of separate system components after you take
specific actions at your PC.
For example, you need to clean-up browser cache from garbage after visiting
a dubious content site and remove its URL from the list of visited sites, etc.
This takes much less time than a complex clean-up.
If you need to perform:
1. a quick clean-up of only separate components of Windows system
sections and separate user files/folders, execute one of the clean-up
variants from the Components section;
2. a quick clean-up of only separate Windows components related to
working on the Internet, execute a variant from the Internet
Components section.
Separate components clean-up takes less time than a complex clean-up of
the entire Windows area.
All PC clean-up variants, as well as separate components clean-up, are executed
manually or by schedule and are set universally (see 1.6.3 «Executing PC
Clean-up Manually», 1.6.6 «Executing Scheduled PC Clean-up», 1.6.4 «Clean-
up »)differing only by the number of settings.
1.6.3 Executing PC Clean-up Manually
There are three ways to manually execute complex PC and component
clean-up.
PC or separate component clean-up, previously selected from the right part
of the Acronis PrivacyExpert main window, can be executed by:
1. mouse-clicking Start Now! in the Acronis PrivacyExpert main window
sidebar;
2. selecting Clean-up ÆStart Now! from the main menu;
3. selecting Start Now! from the task context menu.
If you can’t see clean-up variants or components to clean in the workspace,
scroll down to make it visible.
1.6.4 Clean-up Settings
Clean-up settings
By changing clean-up settings, you can set Acronis PrivacyExpert for your
personal needs. For example, you can select an algorithm of guaranteed data
destruction that suits your needs by speed and reliability; enter the type of
Acronis PrivacyExpert 11

temporary files to clean; directly select browser used; disable separate
component clean-up; etc. This will enable Acronis PrivacyExpert to clean your
PC at maximum speed and performance.
Settings are described below.
Clean-up settings editor
Having selected a clean-up variant by mouse-clicking from the right part of
the Acronis PrivacyExpert main window, and then Properties from the sidebar
Edit list, you invoke the settings editor. You can also do this by selecting a
clean-up variant and Clean-up ÆProperties from the main menu. Finally, the
settings editor can be invoked from the context menu of a clean-up variant
by selecting Properties.
Setting PC component clean-up with the editor
Below you can see the opened settings editor, featuring two groups of
components to clean that belong to the Entire PC Clean-up. These include:
• Internet Clean-up – this group includes clean-up of sections related to
working on the Internet,
• System Clean-up – this group includes Windows system section and
user files/folders clean-up.
Grouped PC components to clean are described later (see Chapter 3 «Separate
PC Components Clean-up»).
If you need to set up component clean-up:
1. select the component from the left part of the editor and check the
Enable <component name> box;
The description of a component to clean
12 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

2. set component clean-up; for this consecutively select each component
clean-up setting and set-up it as necessary (selecting/entering clean-up
algorithm, file type, Internet browser, etc.);
«Files» setting
3. to save your settings click Apply. To discard changes click Cancel .
If you need to restore Acronis PrivacyExpert default clean-up settings:
1. select the component tree root – Settings;
2. in the right part of the editor click Restore Defaults.
Restoring Acronis PrivacyExpert default settings
Acronis PrivacyExpert 13

1.6.5 Separate Components Clean-up Settings
Having selected a specific component to clean from the editor, you open the
list of its clean-up settings.
Each component to clean has several settings in Acronis PrivacyExpert (from 1 to
3 depending on a component).
Below are settings common for a number of components. Specific settings of
separate components are described in the Chapter 3 «Separate PC Components
Clean-up».
Clean-up settings of components related to working on the Internet
«Internet Browsers» and «Address» settings are common for components
related to working on the Internet.
«Internet Browsers» setting
Acronis PrivacyExpert automatically finds all supported browsers installed on
your PC and by default cleans structures of all browsers related to working
on the Internet.
If you have Internet Explorer installed, the structures to clean belong only to
the currently logged on user.
«Internet Browsers» setting
Netscape Navigator and Mozilla support personal profiles. Without additional
settings, Acronis PrivacyExpert cleans either the «default profile» (if it is the
only one), or the profile of the currently logged on user.
14 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

If you need to clean-up only one browser:
1. Set the checkbox near its name only (for example Internet Explorer),
unchecking all other boxes;
2. If you use a version of Netscape Navigator (or Mozilla), you should
additionally select a personal profile (by clicking Profiles… link).
«Address» setting
The «Address» setting is meant for cleaning up Internet cache and the last
visited pages list. («Address» setting has only two system components to
clean: Internet Cache, Last Visited Pages.)
You can also enter any full or partial Internet addresses separated by
semicolon(s) as a value of the «Address» setting, for example:
*worldsoccer.com; *formula1.com;
. . . and so on. All files downloaded from sites fully or partially corresponding
to at least one of the addresses entered will be removed.
Attention! The len
g
th of a search strin
g
with full or partial Internet addresses is
almost infinite! You can enter any number of addresses like *worldsoccer.com or
*formula1.com separated by semicolon.
If you need to:
1. clean-up Internet cache (last visited pages list) from all files (lists,
elements), downloaded from a specific Internet address (site), enter
addresses or their parts separated by semicolon, for example like:
*cnn*;*formula1*
As a result all files downloaded from www.cnn.com, www.formula1.com
will be deleted.
2. clean-up Internet cache from only specific file types downloaded from
specific Internet address (site), enter addresses separated by semicolon,
for example like:
*cnn*.jpg;*cnn*.gif;*formula1*.jpg;*formula1*.gif
As a result only *.jpg, *.gif files will be deleted, while *.html files
for example remain in cache.
Entering the Internet addresses list, you can browse files (visited pages)
selected according to the list. To do this click Show URLs. You will see
the window with selected addresses. They will be deleted during the selected
component clean-up.
Acronis PrivacyExpert 15

System component clean-up settings
«Data Destruction Algorithm» and «Files» settings are common for system
component clean-up.
«Data destruction algorithm» setting
Having selected «Data Destruction Algorithm» setting you can change the
security level provided for PC clean-up and clean-up speed.
For detailed information about data destruction algorithms, please see 1.7
«Data Clean-up Algorithms» and Appendix A «Hard Disk Wiping algorithms».
The most secure algorithms are always very slow, and vice versa, the
quickest algorithms provide less reliability and security.
Having mouse-clicked a setting name, you will see its available element in
the right part of the editor – the selection of data destruction algorithms.
Selecting a data destruction algorithm
Mouse-clicking the drop-down list in the right part of the editor, you will see
all data destruction algorithms available in Acronis PrivacyExpert.
16 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

If you need to ensure:
1. MAXIMUM SECURITY of PC activity evidence, select Peter Gutmann’s
algorithm (35 data destruction cycles), but please keep in mind that it is
quite slow;
2. mid-level security at an average speed of clean-up, select VSITR or Bruce
Schneier’s algorithm (7 data destruction cycles);
3. fast PC clean-up without security in mind, select any of the 1-3-pass
algorithms (see A.2 «Algorithms Used by Acronis PrivacyExpert »).
«Files» setting
The «Files» setting provides temporary file names to clean with Acronis
PrivacyExpert (from Windows Recycle Bin and from system and user folders)
and can be used with a search string.
Under the Windows operating system, a search string can represent a full or
partial file name. A search string may contain any alphanumeric symbols,
including comma, *and ?symbols, and can have values similar to the following :
• *.* – to delete all files from the Recycle Bin – with any file names
and extensions;
• *.doc – to delete files with specific extension – a Microsoft
document file in this case;
• read*.* – to delete all files with any extensions, and names
beginning with «read»;
• read?.* – to delete all files having 5-letter names and any
extensions, names beginning with «read», the fifth letter is random.
The last search string, for example, will result in removal of
read1.txt, ready.doc files, but readyness.txt will remain with its
longer name (excluding the extension).
You can enter several different search strings separated by semicolon, for
example:
*.bak; *.tmp; *.~~~;
. . . and so on. All files with names corresponding to at least one of the
search strings will be deleted.
Attention! The len
g
th of a search strin
g
with full or partial file names is almost
infinite! You can enter any number of filenames or their parts like *.tmp, read?.*
separated by semicolon.
Acronis PrivacyExpert 17

The «Files» setting has four system components to clean: Recycle Bin,
Temporary Files, Custom Folders/Files, and Find Files List.
«Files»setting
If you need to:
1. delete only specific file types from the Recycle Bin (system or user
folder), enter filenames separated by semicolon(s) as follows:
*.jpg; *.gif;
2. delete only specific filenames from the Recycle Bin (system or user
folder), enter names as follows:
read*.txt.
This will result in removal of read!.txt, readme.txt, read1.txt, etc. files,
while read.doc, readme.doc, etc. will remain.
3. delete only specific length filenames from the Recycle Bin (system or
user folder), enter filename as follows:
read?.txt.
As a result files read!.txt, read1.txt, read2.txt, etc. will be deleted, while
read.doc, readme.doc, etc. will remain.
Entering filenames, you can browse the files selected by Acronis PrivacyExpert.
To do this click Show Files. You will see a window containing selected files.
They will be deleted at the given component clean-up.
18 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert

«Computers» setting
The «Computers» setting cleans-up the registry search strings for finding
computers in the local network. These strings keep information on what
interested you in the network. These elements should also be deleted to
maintain confidentiality.
«Computers» setting is the same as «Files». «Computers» setting is a string that
can contain any number of full or partial computer names separated by
semicolon. The deletion of computer search strings is based on a comparison with
the «Computers» setting according to Windows rules (see ««Files» setting»).
If you simply need to delete all local network computer search strings (suitable
in most cases):
1. select Find Computer List;
2. check the Enable the Find Computer List cleaning box;
3. select «Computers» setting; leave its default value unchanged – *.
As a result all computer search strings will be deleted from the registry.
«Computers» setting
Upon entering the «Computers» setting value, you can browse the search
strings in the registry selected by Acronis PrivacyExpert. To do this click
Show Computers. You will see the window with full and partial computer
names searched for in the network. These strings will be deleted during the
registry clean-up.
Acronis PrivacyExpert 19

1.6.6 Executing Scheduled PC Clean-up
Each PC clean-up variant of Acronis PrivacyExpert can be executed either
manually, or automatically as scheduled.
Having set PC clean-up as a daily procedure, to be performed for example at
the end of workday before powering the PC off, you can be sure that all
evidence of your PC and Internet activity will be reliably removed each day.
Acronis PrivacyExpert features a built-in scheduler.
Invoking the scheduler
Having mouse-clicked a clean-up variant in the right part of the Acronis
PrivacyExpert main window, and selected Schedule in the sidebar Clean-up
list, you invoke the scheduler. You can also do this by selecting a clean-up
variant and Clean-up ÆSchedule from the main menu. Finally, you can invoke
the scheduler from the clean-up variant context menu selecting Schedule.
Scheduler
20 Chapter 1 : Installing and Starting to Work with Acronis PrivacyExpert