Advanced File Shredder for Windows

The publisher's are a little stingy with this privacy software's trial period, but they do allow you to test all of its capabilities, and Advanced File Shredder proved to be a very effective file deletion tool.

The program's simple design makes this a great tool for users new to this kind of software. It includes very straightforward shortcut buttons, along with commands that can be accessed via drop-down lists. The settings menu offers three methods for shredding files: cryptographically strong random data, US Dod 5220.22-M, and the Gutman method. To make deleted data even harder, if not impossible, to recover, you also can opt to mangle file data and names before deletion, overwrite cluster trails, and manually set the number of shredding passes. We first chose to shred our Recycle Bin by selecting the command from the Action menu. The program quickly went to work shredding the contents. We had the same results deleting cookies and temporary Internet files. The drag-and-drop functionality made it especially easy to manually choose files for shredding.

Though we were initially turned off by the short, 10-day trial period, we appreciated that the program allows you to completely shred files during the trial. Novice and experienced users alike will appreciate the ease of use and extra security this program offers.