The term "wipe" is a term pretty widely used in the market for commercial software. Mac OS X users, in particular, can use the "Secure Empty Trash" function or the 'rm' utility with the '-P' switch. Most Unix-like OSes these days include "shred" which does essentially the same thing.

Windows doesn't include it, but there are a lot of utilities that do it -- Symantec's Norton, PGP, etc., all have "wipe" or "shred" functions with some granularity. I'd stay away from no-name tools with unfamiliar brand names -- they may not work.

I to, feel that this would be a good addition to the article, but I hope this helps.

[ reply ]

Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/424/34169#34169