User manual ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT 2003

User's Guide PrivacyExpert 2003 Compute with confidence www.acronis.com Copyright © SWsoft, 2000-2002 All rights reserved. Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners. Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Distribution of the work or derivative work in any standard (paper) book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder. DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED «AS IS» AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 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 1.6.2 1.6.3 1.6.4 1.6.5 1.6.6 1.6.7 THE ACRONIS PRIVACYEXPERT MAIN WINDOW.......................................... 9 LOGICAL SOFTWARE ORGANIZATION: SECTIONS....................................... 10 EXECUTING PC CLEAN-UP MANUALLY .....................................................11 CLEAN-UP SETTINGS .................................................................................11 SEPARATE COMPONENTS CLEAN-UP SETTINGS ..........................................14 EXECUTING SCHEDULED PC CLEAN-UP ....................................................20 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 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 INTERNET CACHE ......................................................................................26 COOKIES ...................................................................................................27 DOWNLOADED COMPONENTS ...................................................................28 LAST VISITED PAGES................................................................................30 3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.2.5 3.2.6 3.2.7 3.2.8 3.2.9 3.2.10 3.2.11 SYSTEM COMPONENTS .................................................................. 32 PAGING/SWAP FILE...................................................................................32 RECYCLE BIN ...........................................................................................32 TEMPORARY FILES....................................................................................32 HARD DISKS FREE SPACE .........................................................................33 CUSTOM FOLDERS/FILES ..........................................................................34 REGISTRY BACK-UPS ................................................................................35 FIND COMPUTERS LIST .............................................................................36 FIND FILES LIST........................................................................................37 RECENTLY USED DOCUMENTS LIST .........................................................38 WINDOWS RUN LIST.................................................................................39 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. 4 Introduction 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. 2. 3. 4. 5. to remove Windows registry back-ups, keeping evidence of user's work with PC and the Internet; to delete temporary files from standard Windows folders; to delete custom folders/files from any disks connected to PC; to clean Windows recycle bin; to clean Windows paging/swap file; Acronis PrivacyExpert 5 6. 7. 8. 9. to clean hard disks free space; to clean the opened/saved files history; to remove the evidence from find files list and find computers list. 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. 6 Introduction 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: support@acronis.com 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. 8 Chapter 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 PrivacyExpert Remove 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 PrivacyExpert PrivacyExpert 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 majority of users to take advantage of them without understanding 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 «Cleanup ») 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 Start 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 Properties 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 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 length of a search string 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 length of a search string 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 Schedule 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