Released on: August 14, 2008, 2:05 am

Press Release Author: Peter Meyer

Industry: Software

Press Release Summary: Hermetic Systems has released Windows software to simplify
custom wiping of a computer\'s hard disk prior to disposal of the computer.

Press Release Body: Basel, Switzerland , August 14, 2008 -- Hermetic Systems .When
it\'s time to upgrade to a new computer there is always the problem of what to do
with the old one. It\'s rather a waste just to throw it out. Moreover, you may have
used it for five years or more, and the hard disk probably contains information that
you have forgotten was there, or more likely, information that accumulated over the
years is still in sectors of the hard disk which are not now parts of any files, and
so can\'t be deleted by the usual file deletion method.

A computer running Windows 98 with a 5 GB hard disk is hardly state-of-the-art but
there are plenty of people who can\'t afford to buy a new PC and would be pleased to
have an older one as long as it still works OK. Charitable organizations need PCs
also. But, as noted above, there is the problem of all that data still residing on
the hard disk. Of course, you could simply remove the hard disk and apply a hammer
to it, but that makes the PC unusable unless a new hard disk is obtained, which
constitutes both a financial and a technical problem for your favorite charitable
organization.

You could simply do a low-level format of the hard disk. But there are two problems
with this. Firstly a low-level format simply overwrites all sectors of the hard
disk, and this is not a secure form of deletion (there are special programs which
can recover data from sectors which have been overwritten just once). Secondly, a
PC with a blank hard disk is not immediately usable by your favorite charitable
organization, since they have to install some operating system before they can do
anything with it. Moreover, there may be lots of useful software on the hard disk
(especially word processing and spreadsheet programs) and if you are going to give
the PC to someone to use then you probably don\'t want to delete this sort of
software.

So what\'s needed is a program which will securely delete all files, and also data in
normally inaccessible sectors of the hard disk, yet leave intact the software (and
maybe some data files) that you don\'t wish to delete. Hermetic Systems has a
program to do just that, called \"Data Destroyer Disk Wipe.\" Their program \"Data
Destroyer\" is for secure deletion of files and folders, and allows customization of
the number of times data sectors are overwritten (and what they are overwritten
with); it also provides an estimate of the time required. \"Data Destroyer Disk
Wipe\" is a separate program which is the disk wipe part of \"Data Destroyer\", for
those people who don\'t need the full capabilities of the latter program.

\"Data Destroyer Disk Wipe\" is easy to use. You first select the level of security
(number of overwrites) that you want, then you specify which of the files in the
root folder, and which subfolders, should not be wiped. This allows you to keep all
the Windows system files and all the software which is contained in the Program
Files subfolder. You can get an estimate of the time required for the disk wipe,
and adjust the number of overwrites according to the time available. After the
program has wiped the disk you then have a PC with all data securely removed except
for the files needed for the operation of the PC and other software, and files which
you have chosen to preserve. You can then donate the PC to your favorite charitable
organization with no concern that any sensitive data will be discovered.

A user license for \"Data Destroyer\" currently sells for US$34.99 (or 23.49 Euro) and
one for \"Data Destroyer Disk Wipe\" for US$17.99 (or 11.99 Euro). The product
description pages and the user manuals for both programs are on the Hermetic Systems
website at www.hermetic.ch/dd/dd.htm and www.hermetic.ch/dddw/dddw.htm, and trial or
demo versions are freely downloadable. There are also about twenty other items of
software that are available on the Hermetic Systems website at www.hermetic.ch.
Any information not presented in the online user manuals may be obtained by writing
to Hermetic Systems at support@hermetic.ch.
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Web Site: http://www.hermetic.ch

Contact Details: Contact :
Peter Meyer
Hermetic Systems
Basel, Switzerland
support@hermetic.ch
http://www.hermetic.ch