ReleaseWire

AKS-Labs Released Shred Agent 1.1 - A Windows NT/2000/XP File Shredder

It deletes files on hardware level, excluding the possibility of recovering information.

Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 at 3:49 PM CST

Raleigh, NC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/19/2006 --Shred Agent is the next logical step in the line of security products from AKS-Labs. QuickWiper, its predecessor, was able to wipe free disk space, sensitive files, system and IE cache. Shred Agent allows taking much more control over the wiping of files.

Shred Agent is designed to protect the privacy of its owner. Deleting files in Windows is not secure enough, because it is possible to undelete or recover them using different file recovery utilities. To make sure that the files have been deleted completely Shred Agent works on hardware level. It writes some information directly into the space where the old file was located.

What makes Shred Agent different from most file shredders currently available is the ability to control the removing of files, which are usually hidden from view. It catches files moved to Recycle Bin, or silently modified by software. It is possible to configure the corresponding filters to wipe temporary files created by office programs. These files are rarely noticed, but can be used to recover information.

If Shred Agent is installed on a server and a remote user is trying to delete a file from the "Include" list, Shred Agent will wipe the file. Most other file shredders also fail to do that.

Shred Agent can be fully customized. Two lists of files can be set up: files, which are always wiped and files, which are never wiped. It is possible to save current configuration and upload it at a later time. This means a user can have different filter sets at hand, which are easily switched on and off.

The filters can be configured to wipe only the files with certain extensions or belonging to a specific directory. For example the directories that contain sensitive information, files with .tmp extension or all image files can be included into the list of files subject to wiping. This will provide that none of the information stored in these files will ever be recovered.

Shred Agent can be included into start up, so it launches every time the computer is switched on. There are two working modes: active and passive. When the software is in active mode, the files are automatically wiped depending on the criteria you select. When the software is in passive mode, it does not affect the files being deleted.

The program can be minimized: iconified in the system tray and run silently in the background. Right-click on its icon and a context menu will appear displaying all the control options. A user can select to start and stop the software, display the configuration options or view the help file. All the information about the files being wiped is stored to a special log file, the location of which can be controlled by the user.

Shred Agent costs $60 for a single-user license. For more information and to download the evaluation version visit product website at http://www.shredagent.com/.