There are many files on your computer that contain hints as to where you've been surfing, what you've been writing, viewing, etc. It's a staggering job to get rid of all of it by hand. Indeed, even experienced users usually opt to erase the hard drive and reinstall their operating system; it's faster than doing it manually.

My only extremely minor wish for PrivaZer is the ability to pick and choose what to scrub. As of now, you either scrub your computer or you don't. Seeing as the basic idea is to remove all traces of your usage, that's probably unfair, but it does limit the program's use for selective cleaning.

PrivaZer is a very handy utility and can also be run as a portable application without installation. Just be sure you really want to ditch all that stuff—it's very thorough. For more selective cleaning, try Piriform's CCleaner.

—Jon L. Jacobi