Simple File Shredder 3.2

• License:

  Free

• Editor's Rating:

  4.0 stars

• Average User Rating:

  3.0 stars (out of 73 votes) Rate it!

• Downloads:

  273,051

• Requirements:

  Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server

• Limitations:

  No limitations

• Date Added:

  March 06, 2006

• Previous Versions:

  Select a version Simple File Shredder 3.1 Simple File Shredder 3.0 Simple File Shredder 2.6 Simple File Shredder 2.5 Simple File Shredder 2.4 Simple File Shredder 2.2 Simple File Shredder 2.0 Simple File Shredder 1.8 Simple File Shredder 1.7 Simple File Shredder 1.3 Simple File Shredder 1.1

• Add to my Watch List

Publisher's description of Simple File Shredder

From Scar5 Software:

Simple File Shredder is a utility that securely deletes your files so they can't be restored using recovery software. When you delete a file using the conventional Windows delete method, the file is not actually destroyed. Windows simply acknowledges the file is no longer needed and considers it free space. The deleted file will exist in a recoverable state until it's over-written with other data. When you use Simple File Shredder to shred a file, the file is over-written with with random bytes before it's deleted. If the file was ever restored using recovery software, it would be worthless. Simple File Shredder v3 provides a new fully customizable System Shredder. Using the System Shredder, you can easily group browser cache, cookie, and history files to be located and shredded.

Version 3.2 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

See more CNET content tagged:

Microsoft Windows,

security

Editor's review of Simple File Shredder

• 4.0 stars

• "Finish off files for free"

Though this basic file shredder lacks some features found in full-blown security packages, we can't complain too much, as it's functional and totally free. Simple File Shredder lets you drag and drop files into its nonresizable window, or you can simply right-click a file in Windows Explorer. The utility showed good speed in our tests, destroying 1GB of data in less than five minutes. The program supports a government shredding standard and the Gutmann method. We never managed to restore deleted files using specialized recovery software. You can overwrite data up to 1,000 times, which should be sufficient for the vast majority of users. Though it certainly can't be considered a comprehensive privacy suite, we do appreciate the basic features for wiping away Internet Explorer and Firefox surfing traces. We also like the tools for emptying the Recycle Bin and the Recent Documents list. You can make your own list of folders and files to clean up (though we'd prefer canned plug-ins for popular applications). This program is well suited to home users who want to make sure deleted files stay that way.

User reviews

• Average user rating: 3.4 stars out of 73 votes
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 5 of 47 user reviewsSee all 47 user reviews
  This software version | All versions

• 4 stars

  7 out of 9 people found this review helpful

  Version: Simple File Shredder 3.2

  "Easy to use"

  by heavygear3 on November 15, 2006

  Pros: 1.You can look for files that u wanna shred with Quick Search

  2.It has a System Shredder

  3.Free!

  4.U can shred free space

  5.U get prompted to confirm that u really want to shred a file

  Was this review helpful? YES | NO

  Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

  Reply to this review  | Read reply (1)

• 4 stars

  2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

  Version: Simple File Shredder 3.2

  "WOW This is nearly as good as a purchased one!"

  by Chris7272 on May 28, 2006

  Pros: It's fast at shredding - given you use the faster of the 3 deletion methods. (it's always better to go for the more in depth method though...

  You can shredd both files/and folders

  It has a garbidge cleaner :D WORKS FINE!

  The encription on the files uses the same secure methods that some other full fledged programs use!

  So overall I recon it's a superb prog!

  Cons: It's never going to be as secure as a purcased one i guess.

  Was this review helpful? YES | NO

  Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

  Reply to this review

• 3 stars

  1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

  Version: Simple File Shredder 3.2

  "Please kill some of the damn prompts."

  by Logain_600 on March 25, 2007

  Pros: Easy to use.

  Cons: For one thing, it annoys me that despite its simple context menu addition, it forces you to use a submenu. The context menu addition of this utility should be top-level, not under a submenu.

  And unlike with Eraser, you have to respond to several prompts each time you securely delete something--a MINIMUM of two prompts before you delete the object(s), and one afterward. And the "Initializing the shredding engine" message stays for an annoyingly-long amount of time on my test system (whereas Eraser begins immediately).

  I tell you what. Kill some of the damn prompts, Kill some of the damn menus, clean free space and you get 5 stars from me.

  Was this review helpful? YES | NO

  Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

  Reply to this review

• 4 stars

  1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

  Version: Simple File Shredder 3.2

  "Almost There!"

  by gooffadge on February 1, 2007

  Pros: What can you say: drag-and-drop and a good sys shred utility. Recovery package works. Nice free application; I'll be standing by for the next release.

  Cons: Free space scrubber worked once and then Kaput!

  Was this review helpful? YES | NO

  Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

  Reply to this review

• 5 stars

  Version: Simple File Shredder 3.2

  "This is great!"

  by SteveZodiac on June 28, 2008

  Pros: It really is easy to use

  Easy to download

  Easy to install

  Easy to operate

  Small file doesn't eat up disk space

  Let's YOU choose how many times to overwrite deleted files - up to 35 times

  Cons: There's gotta be a catch, right?

  I mean, nobody makes something this good and just gives it away, right?

  I mean, not any more

  But honestly, I can't find anything wrong with it

  Was this review helpful? YES | NO

  Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

  Reply to this review

• See all 47 user reviews Write review