PrivaZer is an extremely powerful cleaning tool and as such, it is not a tool that you need to use on a daily basis. If CCleaner is your daily system optimization, privacy, and cleanup tool, stay with it – it’s the granddaddy of all system cleaners with good reason. In my view CCleaner is as close to perfect at its assigned task, as a free program can be.
However, if you have a need to get deeper into your system – then PrivaZer (recommended by super user and regular reader Chris A.), is a free application which has been designed to do just that. The “fast facts” listed below will give you a good overall view of PrivaZer’s capabilities.
PrivaZer, like many recently released privacy tools, should not be run without the user taking time to fully understand the power inherent in this application. Further on in this review, you’ll find a number of suggestions for getting you up to speed quickly.
During the installation process, shown below, you will have an opportunity to choose various installs.
An additional choice you will have is – selecting (or not), to install context menu commands.
I’ll jump ahead here for illustrative purposes. For this test, I selected the context menu install which I’ve shown in the following screen capture. Note, this screen shot shows only one of the four context menus – “For drives, Storage”.
Prior to the first run (as shown below), the developer has designed the interface so that less experienced users can choose to be guided by a series of recommended actions.
One such recommended action (subject to user input), is shown below.
Once I had made the choices appropriate for my needs (including cleaning any traces in the free space on the Hard Drive) ……..
… the application allowed me the option to continue as planned, or to back out of individual choices. As well, as illustrated below, selecting any specific action will bring up a menu which provides additional information.
For this test, I went “whole hog” which included cleaning up the drive’s free space. The complete task (analyzing the system and cleanup), ran roughly 30 minutes. The developer makes the point, that future cleanup tasks will run much faster.
Fast facts:
With simply one click, PrivaZer is able to clean securely
Internet browsers
Index.dat
Cookies
Cookies Tor
Cookies Flash
Cookies Silverlight
DOM Storage
IndexedDB
AppCache
Registry
RAM
Pagefile.sys and Hiberfil.sys files
Use of software
Messengers
Histories of visited websites, viewed videos, use of software, opened docs, etc
Jumplists
Recycle bin
Temp files
Log files
Invalid Prefetch entries
Indexing service
ThumbCaches, Thumbs.db
Residual traces of deleted files
Free space
File table (MFT or FAT)
INDEX attributes in MFT
USN Journal, etc
The developer provides a short video which illustrates the basic functions of PrivaZer. I highly recommend that you take the two and a half minutes to view the video. Click on the graphic below to go to the developer’s home page.
While there, I suggest that you scout around the page for additional information on this super application.
System requirements: Windows XP, Vista, Win 7 – 32 bit & 64 bit (tested on Win 8 32 bit).
Download at: Developer’s site.
A complete User’s Guide is available here in PDF format. I highly recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity.
This application offers a straightforward interface, a ton of options, and it’s free – but, it should only be run by experienced users who have a good grasp of system operations.
Bill Mullins' Weblog - Tech Thoughts 
Hi Bill,
Looks super. I like that it cleans DOM storage too. Gonna give it a spin right now.
Cheers
Hey Mal,
I barely touched the surface in this review. It’s got a load of stuff you’ll find interesting.
Good to hear that you’re checking it out.
Best,
Bill
One deep cleaner I’ve used and never had a problem with is Easycleaner. Its free and made by someone in Finland. I just use the ‘Unnecessary Files’ cleaner and it finds stuff CCleaner misssed, sometimes 200-500mb of files. I wouldn’t recommend using the ‘Duplicate Files’ cleaner as a few years ago I read of someone having important files deleted. But the UF has worked fine and never had a problem with it.
Hi Keith,
Hadn’t heard of this until your mention. 200-500mb of files is a major recovery so, I’ll definitely check this out.
Thanks. 🙂
Best,
Bill
Bill,
I’ve been using Bleachbit successfully since you told us about it.
As to this Privazer:
“it should only be run by experienced users who have a good grasp of system operations.”
I may not be in that category. Does it offer any significant advantages in terms of stopping these dreadful spy devices that the so-called legitimate websites like to inflict on the innocent?
I still am in shock over the fact:
“Most people do not realize that email left on any email system past 180 days is considered abandoned and can be taken by the government without any sort of warrant.” revealed in “The Baffling Land Rush to Outlook.com” Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – August 4, 2012
The more I learn, Bill, the worse reality seems to be. What was that saying, “a paranoid is someone who knows a little of what is going on.”
Take care of yourself!
Fred
Hi Fred,
The only advantage I saw in my limited testing was being able to overwrite free space on the drive. But, this can be done independently using any one of a number of free applications. So, if you’re comfortable with Bleachbit, then stick with it. I have.
The 180 day thing was something I was unaware of. If true (I’m not convinced that it’s that simple) – that’s pretty scary. I’ve scheduled some time early next week to do a little digging on this and I’ll post the results.
Best,
Bill
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