Main Functions And Tools Of The BCWipe System - Jetico

Main functions and tools of the BCWipe system

The BCWipe system provides the following ways to shred contents of deleted files:

• Delete with wiping. Using the Delete with wiping command, you can delete and wipe file or folder, as well as selected group of files/folders. As well, BCWipe wipes the file slack, file attributes and (for NTFS) alternate data stream, if it exists.
• Wipe free space. When you delete sensitive files using a standard Windows ‘Delete’ command, the operating system does not shred contents of the documents from hard drive, it just marks disk space, earlier occupied by the files, as ‘free’. To remove all the traces of the earlier deleted files completely, use this command to wipe free space on the disk, where these files were stored.

  Reserved Space functionality significantly cuts the time need to Wipe Free Space by preserving previously wiped space in a clean state.

• Wipe Internet History. BCWipe can completely wipe all traces of your Internet history: cache, cookies, browsing history, search history, saved passwords, last active tabs, etc. Supported web browsers include the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.
• Wipe Local History. (Wipe names of recently used files) BCWipe can wipe names of files opened with Windows components and other popular applications. Names stored on a subfolder or in Windows Registry can be wiped. View detailed information about every entry, such as in the Find History list. Individual entries can be wiped without deleting the whole list.
• Swap file protection. BCWipe utility can wipe unused space in the Swap File or keep the whole swap file encrypted.
• Wipe file slacks. File slack is the disk space from the actual end of a file up to end of the last cluster used by the file. You can turn on/off file slack wiping before running the Wipe Free Space process.
• Wipe MFT records - for NTFS drives. MFT - Master File Table is a reserved space on NTFS disk, where the file system stores names and attributes of files. Small files may reside inside MFT completely. After ordinary Windows 'Delete' operation, Windows marks corresponding MFT record as 'unused'. Windows does not erase the MFT entry contents (that is why Unerase utilities work!). Any file that has been ‘deleted’ by Windows, can get its name restored by special utilities, and if the file body has not been overwritten, contents of the file can be recovered. BCWipe can wipe empty MFT Records - i.e. records related to deleted files.

• Wipe directory slacks. NTFS direcrtory is a special file that contains names of files and subdirectories. Disk cluster that belongs to a directory is named directory node. Directory node has a slack (space from the end of directory data up to the end of cluster). On FAT/exFAT file systems, file names are stored in so called directory entries. Slack of the directory node or directory entry may still contain name of the deleted file, as well as other deleted data.
• Wipe NTFS transactions log file. NTFS is a journaling file system and uses the NTFS Log ($LogFile) to record temporary data for all files you were working with. Transactions log file is used to restore file system in case of a failure.
• Transparent Wiping. Automatic wipe of the contents of every file or folder deleted by applications or operating system. This functionality is activated by creating the special task called Transparent Wiping in BCWipe Task Manager.
• Wipe Compressed Files Compressed files cannot be wiped by usual means. BCWipe contains the special module that can read disk sectors on a low level. Due to this module, BCWipe can wipe compressed files. Administrator rights are required to wipe compressed files.
• Disk-level verification. BCWipe contains the special module that can read disk sectors on a low level. Due to this module, BCWipe can run advanced verification of wiping process by reading results directly from physical disk sectors. Administrator rights are required to run this type of verification.

The following tools allow users to configure and control the wiping process:

• BCWipe Task Manager. The utility allows configuring BCWipe to run some wiping tasks automatically. You can set a time for running the task, as well as special options for the task. The utility is used by administrators to configure automatic tasks on users' computers.
• Reserved Space Manager. Wipe Free Space is time-comsuming process. On modern large disks with terabytes of free space it may take several days to complete. Reserved Space functionality of BCWipe is intended to save the time by preserving the wiped space in clean state. Reserved Space Manager allows the users to manage the free/reserved disk space.
• Wiping Scheme Editor allows creating custom wiping schemes.
• Swap File Encryption utility. Swap File is the Windows system file that is used for the virtual memory support, and it can store parts of documents, you are working with, in an opened form on hard drive. Even if some powerful encryption program encrypts an original document, Windows can put a whole document or part of it to the Swap file in an opened form. Encryption keys, passwords, and other sensitive information can also be swapped to hard drive. Even if you use all of the security advantages of the latest Windows versions, simple investigating of the Swap file in DOS mode may allow extracting a lot of interesting information from the file. BCWipe allows encrypting the Swap file contents and preventing such a leak in the operating system.
• Hexadecimal File Viewer. Using the Viewer you can examine contents of file after wiping. The utility is useful for investigating a quality of wiping process, for example when you use a custom wiping scheme.
• Log Viewer. A convenient tool for reading, searching and filtering information about wiping process.
• Automatic Update utility. Allows users to get the latest updates of the software automatically.

See also:

Delete with wiping Wipe free space Wiping Options BCWipe Task Manager Transparent Wiping overview Swap File Encryption Hexadecimal File Viewer Log File Viewer