Automatic Windows and Internet Washer

All things considered, Automatic Windows and Internet Washer makes a solid tool for keeping your computer activities to yourself. Similar to many privacy applications, this program boasts an easy-to-navigate tabbed interface and lets you choose what to delete by checking or unchecking boxes. The program erases all aspects of your surfing history--including typed URLs, temporary files, and cookies--from Internet Explorer and Netscape, but doesn't support other popular browsers such as Opera. The application not only can clean traces from Windows system areas such as the Run menu and the Clipboard, but it also supports a decent amount of third-party applications, including ICQ, Kazaa, and the Microsoft Office suite. For additional security, you can set Automatic Windows and Internet Washer to run at every reboot or quickly engage its stealth-mode setting. Our main gripe has to do with the file shredder, which doesn't let you wipe data according to secure governmental algorithms. It does offer three security levels, but the demo version disables the two most thorough modes. Still, if you don't routinely shred files or you already have a dedicated data-eradication app, this program covers all other privacy bases.