Published by Solvusoft Inc.

WinSweeper
User Manual

Table of Contents

2012 Solvusoft

Introduction

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

Registering WinSweeper

Uninstalling WinSweeper

10

Using WinSweeper

11

Windows Tab

14

Office Tab

16

Internet Tab

18

Other Applications Tab

20

Settings

23

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Introduction
WinSweeper safeguards your internet privacy and ensures that all traces of your
offline or online computer and Internet activities are erased beyond recovering on
your system. WinSweeper is designed to restore your valuable hard disk space and
cleans out unused and old temporary records, thus speeding up your PC's
performance.
Every action that you perform on your computer will leave some kind of a trace, and
it is not possible to cover your tracks by simple clearing of your browser history.
WinSweeper's purpose is to significantly reduce any risks of your identity exposure
and it will do so by profound cleaning of both your online activity traces and history
traces that are stored in various software and Windows applications.
WinSweeper is incredibly straightforward and easy to use. You can effectively
maintain your privacy with WinSweeper simply by clicking "Start Scan" button. The
program will do the rest by wiping your traces from nearly 100 areas where delicate
information remained on your system.
WinSweeper is organized very conveniently into 4 main sections that the software
cleans: Windows, Office, Internet and Other Applications. By accessing each area, you
will see the list of all the corresponding programs, sectors, components and
browsers that you can choose to wipe clean. You can either select them all or choose
which sections you want to wipe and which to leave as they are. Once you have
selected what do you want to include or exclude from the privacy scanning, click the
'Start Scan' button and the program will perform its tasks.

System Requirements
Version: 2.1
Download size: 1.2 MB
Operating Systems supported: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows Vista (64 bit), Windows 7, Windows 7 (64 bit)
Recommended Hardware requirements: 3.4 Mb Hard Disk space

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Installation Instructions
Installation process is pretty straightforward. After you run the WinSweeper.exe
file, you will see the language selection window.

Choose your desired language and click OK. Next, you will be greeted by the
WinSweeper Setup Wizard.

Click Next to continue, or Cancel to abort the setup process.

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Accept the End-User License Agreement and click Next. Now choose a destination
folder where you want WinSweeper installed. It is best to leave this option as
suggested by the Installer.

Click Next to continue.

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Leave this option as pre-defined and click Next'.

If you want to create a Desktop icon for WinSweeper and/or a Quick Launch icon,
check these boxes and click Next.

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On this final step you will see the summary of all the settings you have selected in
the previous steps. If you want any of these changed, click Back to change the
settings, or click Install to complete the installation process.

Congratulations! If you see the following window, you have successfully installed
WinSweeper on your system.

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Launch WinSweeper is selected by default and when you click the Finish button,
the program will start automatically. If you dont want to launch the program at this
moment, uncheck the box.

Registering Winsweeper

Registration process is very straightforward. Copy the license code that you received
in your confirmation e-mail after the purchase.
When the WinSweeper's main interface is opened, click on the Register tab, at the
bottom on the left side menu.

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A new window will pop up. Paste your License code in the empty field and click on
the 'Activate' button.

A window will pop up, informing you that the key has been accepted.

All the WinSweeper features will be unlocked after you register your software and
you can continue to freely use the software.
The unregistered version of WinSweeper can only clean the following categories:
-

Find Files History

Find Computer History
Start -> Run History
Documents History
Start Menu Click History

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Clipboard
Open / Save History
Scandisk File Fragments
Media Player Recent Files List
Paint Recent Files List
WordPad Recent Files List

All other categories are restricted to the registered version only.

Uninstaling WinSweeper

If you ever choose to uninstall WinSweeper, you can do it in two easy ways.
1.

Go to Start> Control Panel > Programs and Features

Locate WinSweeper among listed programs, right-click it and choose Uninstall.

2.

Alternatively, you can go to the programs installation folder

Local Disk (C)> Program Files > WinSweeper

Locate the file unins000.exe. Clicking on this file will uninstall WinSweeper from your
system.

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Using WinSweeper
When you launch WinSweeper for the first time, it will calculate how much Disk
Space can be cleaned on your system. If there are a lot of data that can be freed, the
scale in the main interface will show 'High' position. This colored bar indicates the
overall junk level of your PC based upon a number of proprietary factors.

HIGH - means you can gain 100+ MB by using WinSweeper to clean up your System.
MEDIUM you can gain 50 100 MB by cleaning your system with WinSweeper.
LOW means you can gain 0-50 MB by cleaning your system with WinSweeper.

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To start the scanning and cleaning process, click on the 'Start Scan' button.

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In the Scan History on the main WinSweeper interface, you will see the last scan
results, how many items have been deleted and how much Disk Space have been
freed.

The color-bar indicator should now show the ideal, 'LOW' position.

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Windows Tab
From the Windows tab you can select which Windows-related privacy traces you
want to clean during the scanning process and which you want to leave. Winsweeper
is equipped to clean the temporary files, various document histories, the clipboard
and the recycle bin. The privacy software even detects and deletes your tracks from
the start menu, the record of what youve opened and saved, and the SWAP file. The
SWAP file (also known as paging file) essentially uses virtual memory for temporary
storage, but it can store remnants of your computer history, and it is recommended
to occasionally clear it out to improve performance and privacy.

Windows Temporary Files - Windows Temporary Files (Temp files) store Windows
and other programs temporary files. Windows Temporary Files directory can become
cluttered and contain files from programs you no longer have installed or files which
may violate your privacy.

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Find Files History - If you don't want others to know what files you've searched for,
clearing your find files history is the solution.
Find Computer History clears history of the searched computers
Start -> Run History - Clearing the run history keeps others from knowing the
commands you entered in Run under the Start Menu.
Documents History - My Recent Documents, keeps the list of all the recent
documents that you have opened or used. After a while the list can get quite long
and it has the effect of slowing the boot-up process. Also, you may not always want
to have an easily available record of all the documents you have been opening for
others to read.
Start Menu Click History - Every time you open a program from Windows Start menu,
the date and number of times you used it is stored in an encrypted database. This
means that Windows logs this information and never deletes the log data. In addition
of being a very high security risk, this also bloats the registry, slowing Windows
down.
Windows Swap File - A swap file, also called a page file, is an area on the hard drive
used for temporary storage of information. Windows uses the swap file to improve
performance. A computer normally uses primary memory, or RAM, to store
information used for current operations, but the swap file serves as additional
memory available to hold additional data. Although clearing the swap file is not a
suitable substitute for physical security of a computer, you might want to do this to
increase the security of data on a computer while Windows is not running.
Recycle Bin - In the Microsoft Windows operating systems, the Recycle Bin is a
holding area for files and folders that are held before final deletion from a storage
device. Clearing the recycle bin permanently deletes privacy-sensitive files and
restores valuable hard disk space.
Clipboard - The Clipboard is where data goes when you select "Edit/Copy", press
CTRL-C, or right click and select "Copy" from the pop up context sensitive menu.
When you "Cut" you're also putting that data on the Windows Clipboard. It allows
pieces of information to be temporarily stored and then retrieved later by another
application. The clipboard can quickly become filled with private and useless data
that needs to be removed.
Open / Save History - Windows records when you've opened and saved files. Every
time you want to open/save a file, it will display a list of files used in the past.
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Unfortunately, this convenient feature allows others to see what files you have
accessed, putting your privacy at risk.
Scandisk File Fragments - ScanDisk is a utility in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows
systems which checks and repairs file systems and bad clusters on the hard drive. File
fragments are parts of files on your disk that were lost by a program. Removing these
junk files clears up valuable hard disk space.
Media Player Recent Files List - Windows Media Player records when you've opened
and saved files. Every time you want to open a file, it will display a list of files viewed
in the past.
Paint Recent Files List - Windows Paint records when you've opened and saved files.
WordPad Recent Files List - Windows WordPad records when you've opened and
saved files. Every time you want to open a file, it will display a list of files viewed in
the past.

Office Tab
This tab contains all of the Microsoft Office-related (including Oracle's OpenOffice)
cleaning options. WinSweeper can remove evidence of your history using Microsoft
Office. When you open or save documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or other
applications, a remnant of your activity is stored. WinSweeper will remove any trace
of your opened documents as well as the record that you opened them. You can
choose which Office program history you want to keep and which to erase during the
scan process.

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WinSweeper removes the document history, temporary files, and other related files
for the following Microsoft Office programs:
-

Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft FrontPage
Microsoft Photo Editor
Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Visio
Oracle OpenOffice

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Internet Tab
Winsweeper will remove traces of all your Internet activities, including the browser
history, visited and typed URLs, list of downloaded programs, cookies, AutoComplete
forms and passwords. The software even clears the Index.dat file, which is a
database in Windows that stores all sorts of information about your Internet history
that is otherwise locked and cannot be deleted. In addition, WinSweeper supports
internet history cleaning in all the major browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google
Chrome, Opera and Safari.

Each of the Internet browser programs contains a detailed list of sub-options, which
provides you with maximum cleaning flexibility. These options are listed below:
Cache - These are the temporary Internet files that are accumulating when you visit
web sites. These files include graphics files and other files that leave traces of your
Internet browsing activity.
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Cookies - A browser cookie is a small piece of information sent by a web server to a

web browser to be stored for future use. The most security-relevant use of browser
cookies is when they are used to store authentication data, such as user names and
passwords. Therefore, deleting cookies is highly recommended to protect your
privacy.
Browser History - As you browse the Internet, each of the items you view are saved
locally on your hard disk drive. To conserve hard disk drive space and to help keep
your Internet browsing private, we recommend deleting Internet History.
Visited URL History - Your internet browser records all of the URLs that you have
every visited. Deleting visited URLs prevents others from seeing the sites you have
accessed.
Typed URL History - Every time you type a URL / web site address in the address bar
of your browser, it will record this URL in the folder "Temporary Internet Files".
AutoComplete Forms Data - Your internet browser can remember what you've
entered in forms on web pages, also known as text fields. After you've entered
something into a form on a web page (such as a search box), the next time you visit
that page, your previous entry will be available to re-use. Identity-sensitive data such
as names, addresses, and phone numbers puts your privacy at risk.
AutoComplete Passwords - Your internet browser can remember what passwords
you've entered into web login pages. The next time you visit that page, your
password will be available to re-use. Keeping a history of your passwords puts your
privacy and security at high risk.
Downloaded Program Files - Your internet browser keeps a detailed log of every file
you've downloaded. This can expose any sensitive files that you may have
downloaded in the past.
Index.dat Files - The index.dat file is a database file. It is a repository of information
such as web URLs, search queries and recently opened files. Its purpose is to enable
quick access to data used by Internet Explorer. The index.dat file is user-specfic and is
open as long a user is logged on in Windows. Separate index.dat files exist for the
Internet Explorer history, cache, and cookies. Clearing this file is important to
protecting browsing privacy.

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Other Apps Tab

This tab contains all of the other third-party applications that WinSweeper supports.
WinSweeper can remove history and privacy-related files for these programs, if you
select them.

Supported programs are:

ACDSee
Ad-Aware
AddWeb
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Photoshop Album
Advanced Disk Catalog

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AOL Browser
Applications Log
AudaCity
Audio CD Info
Avast
AVG AntiVir
Axialis Media Browser
Babylon
Book Reader
BSPlayer
Chameleon Web Browser
Coffee DirectFTP
Copernic
CuteFTP
CuteMX
DirectX
DivX Player
Download Accelerator
EditPad
Enigma Browser
Eudora
FlashGet
FLV Player
Forte Agent
Foto Station
Free Download Manager
FTP Voyager
Gator
GetRight
Go!Zilla
Google Desktop
Google Toolbar
Graphics Workshop Pro
HomeSite 4
Imaging

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IrfanView
iTunes
Java Runtime Environment
Macromedia Dreamweaver 3
Maxthon
MicroAngelo
Microsoft FreeCell
Microsoft Works
Miro
MSN Browser
Naviscope
Nero Software
NetCaptor
NetVampire
Norton Commander
Orbit Downloader
Photo Editor 3
PhotoDraw 2000
Picasa
Power ISO
Quick Time
Real Download
Real Player
Registry Editor
Search Wolf
Sonique
Teleport Pro
VideoLan VLC Player
Winamp
Windows Mail
WinRar
WinZip
Xara 3D
Yahoo Player

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Settings
WinSweeper can be set to run automatically on Windows startup and/or scheduled to
run every hour. The software can run in the background, so it wont interfere with
your other computer activities.
Files and folders that are deleted through Windows using the traditional Recycle bin
approach arent actually removed permanently and have remnants that computer
sleuths can still uncover. Thats why it is important that any privacy software securely
and permanently deletes your private information. WinSweeper is equipped to shred
files in a manner that makes them unrecoverable. You can choose between a single
pass, triple pass and the DoD method (3-pass algorithm used by the U.S. Department
of Defense).

Autostart with Windows - Selecting this option will enable WinSweeper to

automatically startup when Windows starts.
Automatic hourly scan and clean - Selecting this option will enable WinSweeper
to automatically scan and clean your computer every hour, ensuring your computer is
always clean and protected from privacy risks.
Minimize to tray - Selecting this option allows WinSweeper to run silently in the
background. The WinSweeper icon is visible in the lower-right tray of Windows.
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File Wipe Options

One Pass - One "pass" means overwriting the data clusters once and will render
most commercial recovery tools useless.
Triple Pass - Triple Pass consists of two complimentary overwriting passes followed
by a random pass. This is an extra security measure that should prevent any particular
recovery program retrieving your data.
DoD (Department of Defense) - U.S. Department of Defense specifies a seven pass
extended character rotation overwrite algorithm in the DoD 5220.22-M specification.

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