Browser Wipe v1.4 (Bwipe.exe) for Windows

copyright Michael J. Burns

This beta version of Browser Wipe is a stand alone program which will delete or wipe the Microsoft Internet Explorer cache, including cookies, web page files, and history files.

Since Bwipe.exe is a 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.

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. This means the files are logically deleted from the cache directory, which means that someone with the appropriate software can undelete them if Windows has not already reused the disk space. It also means that even if Windows has reused some, but not all of the disk space the deleted file used, then someone with the appropriate software can recover the remaining file fragments.
2. Overwrite the cache objects once with random data, then wipe the file names with random data, and delete. This takes slightly longer than option #1 but simple undelete software or file secotor viewing software cannot recover the files or fragments of files.
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 takes 3 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 takes several times longer than options #2 & #3. The claim by the U.S. Government is that no matter how sophisticated the software tools are, no part of the files can be recovered.
5. Only available from the command line: Overwrite the cache objects thirty-five times with data that conforms the Peter Gutmann scheme (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html), then wipe the file names with random data, then delete. This takes several times longer than the other options.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. The user assumes all liability for any consequences, proven or unproven, that they attribute to this software.

About DoD 5220.22-M vs DoD 5200.28-STD

DoD 5220.22-M is an abbreviated version of DoD 5200.28-STD. 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.  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 byte .  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.


'v0.1
'1. Beta Release. Requires Internet Explorer 3.0 or later.
'
'v1.0 Initial Release
'1. Added Vista OS recognition. (No test.)
'2. Added Peter Gutman's scheme
'
'v1.1
'1. Upgraded Compiler to PB 7.04
'2. Fixed bug where program mis-identified IE 7 as IE 6.
'3. Added multithreaded version check.
'
'v1.2
'1. Added ability to wipe an arbitrary file.
'2. Fixed minor bug in IE version reporting.  
'
'v1.3
'1. Added wiping with 3-pass DoD 5220.22-M (not actually as good as 7-pass DoD 5200.28-STD) 
'
'v1.4
'1. Made Peter Gutman scheme accessable from the form, not just the command line. 
'
'v1.5
'1. Changed algorithm to touch base with the System to not hog system resources when wiping large numbers of files.
'2. Fixed 'Check for Updates' bug.