Browser Wipe (BWipe.exe)

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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.

View the Readme.txt file

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