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copyright Michael J. Burns
V1.5 Release date January 21, 2009
Download the 333kB zip
file by clicking here. (Right click, select "Save as...")
The zip file contains an installer that will install Browser Wipe, its Help
File, and ReadMe file.
Please note that I am no longer updating or maintaining
this program, so changes to Windows & Internet Explorer since the last update of
this program may prevent it from wiping IE's cache even if it does not generate
an error.
Browser Wipe is a small stand alone program which will delete or wipe the Microsoft Internet Explorer cache, including cookies, web page files, and history files of the user logged in who runs it. (Why not Firefox?)
Browser Wipe will also allow you to wipe any file you
chose. Great for carrying on a USB Flash Drive! Note - No
"wiper" program can wipe individual files on SSD's or Flash drives due to the
way their built-in wear leveling algorithms work. If you need to wipe files on a
SSD or Flash drive, you need to delete the file & run a utility like
FSWipe and have it
wipe all of the free space. Even then, depending on the devices overprovisioning
settings & the devices internal controller, your file may still not have
been overwritten.
Bwipe.exe is an approximately 131kB stand alone program which does not
require any additional files beyond those found on all Windows versions. Bwipe.exe is ideal for keeping on ones USB flash keychain drive so that one can
wipe the cache on borrowed PC's when traveling. Furthermore, Bwipe.exe can be
run with command line parameters which means it can be run from batch files
as well as from the Windows Scheduler.
At present, the cache delete/wipe options are:
Any combination of
1. File cache
2. History cache
3. Cookie cache
And the method used options are:
1. Simple Windows delete
2. Overwrite the cache objects once with random data, then wipe the file names
with random data, and delete. This is more secure than option #1 and takes slightly longer than option #1.
3. Overwrite the cache objects three times with data that conforms the U.S.
government standard, DoD 5220.22-M, then wipe the file names with random data,
then delete. This is more secure than option #2 and takes several times longer than option #2.
4. Overwrite the cache objects seven times with data that conforms the U.S.
government standard, DoD 5200.28-STD, then wipe the file names with random data,
then delete. This is more secure than option #3 and takes several times longer than option #3.
5. Overwrite the cache objects
thirty-five times with data that conforms the
Peter Gutmann scheme, then wipe the file names with random data, then
delete. This is more secure than option #4 and takes several times longer than option #4.
Command Line parameters (e.g. Bwipe.exe CFHG will wipe cookies, cache
files, and history using U.S. government standard DoD 5200.28-STD. )
The parameters are not case sensitive and can be in any order and may be separated with spaces or commas.
C - means delete/wipe cookies
F - means delete/wipe files
H - means delete/wipe history
D - means simple delete only
R - means over write with random data, then delete
L - means over write 3 times per US Govt. DoD 5220.22-M, then delete
G - means over write 7 times per US Govt. DoD 5200.28-STD, then delete
P - means over write 35 times per the Peter Gutmann scheme, then delete
C, F and H are additive
D, R, L, G & P have priority with the more complex scheme overriding simpler schemes. R overrides D, L overrides D & R, G overrides L, R & D, P overrides all of R & D & L & G. If no scheme is specified, then R is the default.
Using the Windows Scheduler
The command line feature allows one to use the Microsoft Task Scheduler to
run Browser Wipe at a prescribed time to wipe the Internet Explorer cache. To do
this, use the Microsoft Task Scheduler to run Browser Wipe at the time you
desire. If Browser Wipe does not show up in the list of tasks the scheduler
knows about, use the "Browse" button to locate Browser Wipe. The
Windows Scheduler should default to assuming that the scheduled task will run as
the user setting it the schedule, but you can change this under the task
properties.
Once you have scheduled Browser Wipe to run at the desired time and interval, we
need to tell it what parts of the Internet Explorer cache it is to actually wipe
or delete. In the Microsoft Task Scheduler, highlight the scheduled Browser
Wipe, and right click. Select Properties. In the "Run" box will be the path to
Browser Wipe in quotes. For example, suppose it says "C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe"
OUTSIDE the trailing quote, put the identifying string of the parameters you
want Bwipe.exe to use, so it is of the form (for a default installation) of
"C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe" string
For example, if the idea was to schedule the wiping of cookies, cache files &
history using one pass of random
data, the Run box would be
"C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe" CFHR
For example, if the idea was to schedule the wiping of only cache files
& history using one pass of random
data, the Run box would be
"C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe" FHR
For example, if the idea was to schedule the wiping of only cache files
& history using
US Govt. DoD 5200.28-STD, the Run box would be
"C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe" FHG
For example, if the idea was to schedule the wiping of only cache files
& history using the
Peter Gutmann scheme, the Run box would be
"C:\Program Files\BWipe\Bwipe.exe" FHP
About DoD 5220.22-M vs DoD 5200.28-STD
US Govt. DoD 5220.22-M is an abbreviated version of
US Govt. DoD 5200.28-STD.
US Govt. DoD 5220.22-M
overwrites all addressable byte locations with a byte of data, its complement
(1’s & 0’s reversed), then overwrites each byte location with random bytes. This
means each data byte to be wiped was overwritten 3 times.
US Govt. DoD 5200.28-STD
overwrites all addressable byte locations with a byte of data and its
complement, then overwrites all addressable byte locations with a different byte
of data and its complement, then overwrites all addressable byte locations with
a yet another different byte of data and its complement, then overwrites each
byte location with random bytes . This means each data byte to be wiped was
overwritten 7 times. If your organization has specific data wiping criteria, it
is up to you to see which of these meets the minimum requirements for your
organization, or whether you want the
Peter Gutmann scheme which overwrites each
data byte to be wiped 35 times with various bytes, their complements and random
bytes. Basically, the more times the data has been overwritten, the less likely
the overwritten data could be resurrected.
I'll add the usual warning that there are no warranties that this software will work correctly or will even run on your machine, and that you use it at your own risk.
V1.5 Release date January 21, 2009
Download the 333kB zip
file by clicking here. (Right click, select "Save as...")
The zip file contains an installer that will install Browser Wipe, its Help
File, and ReadMe file.
Back to Michael Burns Software