Review: BleachBit offers free, comprehensive disk cleaning and privacy protection

There are so many system cleaners out there, you could pack a Start screen with them. They're not all equally good, though, and some are have restrictions for business use. CCleaner and PC Decrapifier are among the best, but they are not completely free to use in a professional setting. Businesses wishing to use either of these have to pay up. If you're a business user looking for a truly free system cleaner, one interesting option is open-source, cross-platform BleachBit.

BleachBit's text-heavy interface is suited for users who know what they're doing.

BleachBit doesn't have much in the way of a flashy interface. There's a list of items running down the left side of the window, subdivided into categories such as Google Chrome, Flash, Microsoft Office, and so on. There's also a System category for more general cleanups, and a Deep Scan one for tracking down junk files strewn all over the disk (such as .DS_Store and thumbs.db files).

Pick a category, and a quick explanation appears about each of its sub-items. Explanations are usually very brief and assume prior knowledge, though For example, under Firefox, you can opt to clean out something called DOM Storage. If you're not sure what that is, the text informs you that this means it will "Delete HTML5 cookies." If you know what that means, great. If not, you'll have to start searching the Web for answers.

BleachBit is smart enough to know that some operations are going to be more time-consuming than others. For example, when you check the box to remove Temporary Files during a Deep Scan, it pops up an alert telling you that this is going to be a slow operation. Other alerts exist too: Check the box for deleting Backup files, and BleachBit will prompt you to inspect the Preview report for any files you do want to keep.

BleachBit does include single-line descriptions of what each item does, but some of these are laconic.

Once you've decided what you want to clean out, it's time to click the Preview button. This executes a dry run of the options you've checked, outputting a log of planned operations. If this sounds dry and technical, that’s because it is: the output is just a long, long, text dump full of inscrutable paths for temporary files and cookies, and other information. At the end of the report there's a more human-readable summary, letting you know how much disk space would be recovered by the operation, how many files would be deleted, and how many "special operations" would be performed. Special operations include things like securely wiping free disk space.

The log is only marginally useful. Not only is it difficult to read, but if you spot an operation  you wish to exclude (for example, a file you don't want deleted after all), there isn't much you can do about it. You can't exclude it: all you can do is to cancel the whole operation.

Another problem with the log is that it doesn't make it clear which disk drives are affected. For example, when I ran BleachBit, it cleaned out an impressive 18.5GB of files. But it didn’t clarify whether that was on my relatively small SSD, or my roomy 2TB hard drive. It probably cleaned some from both, but the report only stated a total without breaking it down per drive.

BleachBit can free up lots of disk space, but neglects to tell you which drives now have more breathing room.

BleachBit feels like a solid, no-nonsense utility for users who know what they're doing. Being free, open-source, and cross-platform are great advantages, especially in an enterprise environment. If you're just a home user looking for a simple way to clean out your computer, BleachBit doesn't beat CCleaner. But for an office, or a home user who likes to keep their computers clean, BleachBit makes for a lean solution.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

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Review: BleachBit offers free, comprehensive disk cleaning and privacy protection

There are so many system cleaners out there, you could pack a Start screen with them. They're not all equally good, though, and some are have restrictions for business use. CCleaner and PC Decrapifier are among the best, but they are not completely free to use in a professional setting. Businesses wishing to use either of these have to pay up. If you're a business user looking for a truly free system cleaner, one interesting option is open-source, cross-platform BleachBit.

BleachBit's text-heavy interface is suited for users who know what they're doing.

BleachBit doesn't have much in the way of a flashy interface. There's a list of items running down the left side of the window, subdivided into categories such as Google Chrome, Flash, Microsoft Office, and so on. There's also a System category for more general cleanups, and a Deep Scan one for tracking down junk files strewn all over the disk (such as .DS_Store and thumbs.db files).

Pick a category, and a quick explanation appears about each of its sub-items. Explanations are usually very brief and assume prior knowledge, though For example, under Firefox, you can opt to clean out something called DOM Storage. If you're not sure what that is, the text informs you that this means it will "Delete HTML5 cookies." If you know what that means, great. If not, you'll have to start searching the Web for answers.

BleachBit is smart enough to know that some operations are going to be more time-consuming than others. For example, when you check the box to remove Temporary Files during a Deep Scan, it pops up an alert telling you that this is going to be a slow operation. Other alerts exist too: Check the box for deleting Backup files, and BleachBit will prompt you to inspect the Preview report for any files you do want to keep.

BleachBit does include single-line descriptions of what each item does, but some of these are laconic.

Once you've decided what you want to clean out, it's time to click the Preview button. This executes a dry run of the options you've checked, outputting a log of planned operations. If this sounds dry and technical, that’s because it is: the output is just a long, long, text dump full of inscrutable paths for temporary files and cookies, and other information. At the end of the report there's a more human-readable summary, letting you know how much disk space would be recovered by the operation, how many files would be deleted, and how many "special operations" would be performed. Special operations include things like securely wiping free disk space.

The log is only marginally useful. Not only is it difficult to read, but if you spot an operation  you wish to exclude (for example, a file you don't want deleted after all), there isn't much you can do about it. You can't exclude it: all you can do is to cancel the whole operation.

Another problem with the log is that it doesn't make it clear which disk drives are affected. For example, when I ran BleachBit, it cleaned out an impressive 18.5GB of files. But it didn’t clarify whether that was on my relatively small SSD, or my roomy 2TB hard drive. It probably cleaned some from both, but the report only stated a total without breaking it down per drive.

BleachBit can free up lots of disk space, but neglects to tell you which drives now have more breathing room.

BleachBit feels like a solid, no-nonsense utility for users who know what they're doing. Being free, open-source, and cross-platform are great advantages, especially in an enterprise environment. If you're just a home user looking for a simple way to clean out your computer, BleachBit doesn't beat CCleaner. But for an office, or a home user who likes to keep their computers clean, BleachBit makes for a lean solution.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

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Bar Bans Google’s Glasses Over Privacy Concerns

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Is Microsoft’s Privacy Policy Any Different From Google’s? Not Really

Carpe diem! Microsoft has seized the opportunity presented by Google’s privacy policy changes to tout its online services as alternatives. Ads last week hit the pages of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and USA Today suggesting that people concerned with Google’s policies try Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Internet Explorer browser, Hotmail email and Office 365 for business documents.

“Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products,” the ads read. “Those changes, cloaked in language like ‘transparency,’ ‘simplicity’ and ‘consistency,’ are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services.”

Google called Microsoft’s statements about its policies “myths” in a post on its Public Policy blog. (We asked Microsoft to comment for this story, but the company declined to do so.)

Is Microsoft’s policy any different? Here are several ways it’s just like Google:

Microsoft also asks new users to provide personal information, including name, ZIP code and date of birth when they register for a product such as Hotmail . Like a Google profile that’s attached to multiple services, this basic information establishes a Windows Live ID that Microsoft uses across its services.Microsoft uses cookies and other technologies to keep track of your interactions with their products to offer a personalized experience.Microsoft collects information about you and combines it with information obtained from other Microsoft services and other companies. It uses the information to provide services such as personalized content and advertising.As with Google, you can also opt-out of receiving targeted ads from Microsoft advertising. To be clear, you’ll still see ads: That’s how both companies make money.

But Google offers ways to fine-tune the personalized ads you see. For instance, if you are searching for restaurants in San Francisco and you see ads for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, but you’re a vegetarian, you can block that advertiser from appearing in future search results. Google also allows you to adjust the information that other sites get from Google to show you ads.

Sometimes Google doesn’t get it right: Based on my browsing activity, I am a 35- to 44-year-old man who is interested in computers and electronics. Well, Google was right on two out of three. But hey, if you are looking to minimize what Google knows about you , this is a good thing.

Curious about who Google thinks you are? Go to Ad Preferences Manager, log into your account and select “Ads on the web” to see categories and demographic data that Google has determined from your acitivity. You can easily edit the information.

If you’re still uncomfortable with the idea of tracking your preferences, Google makes it easier to jump ship using its Takeout tool, a part of what it calls Data Liberation Front, a group of Google engineers dedicated to moving data in and out.

Here’s how: Sign into your Google account. Go to account settings and choose “data liberation.” You’ll see a list of services you use that are included in Takeout, such as Google Docs, Picasa and Circles from Google+ . Select the ones you want, and Takeout will generate a zipped file containing a copy of your data and files that you can download to your computer and save as a backup or import into another service. If you decide to leave Google, you will be asked to confirm each service that you want to end, re-enter your password and then delete. Want to leave Microsoft? Good luck. You’ll have to extract your data one service at a time and cancel each separately.

Nothing is free. Web companies survive on ad revenue. Google and Microsoft are no exceptions. By tracking your searches, the Web pages you visit and your interactions with other products they own, companies can deliver information that you’ll find more relevant – and that generates higher advertising revenue for them. Both companies do it, but Google lets you customize your ad experience and makes it easy to take your data and go.

Article provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to Laptopmag.com.

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Lawmakers Question Proposed Change to Video Privacy Law

Let's say you like to watch heady documentaries over Netflix's streaming service and would like to share recommendations with your friends on Facebook. Netflix would like to offer that service, but the company says a 24-year-old U.S. law is in the way.

A bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in December would allow Netflix and other streaming video providers to get one-time consent from customers to share their movie choices, not only with social-media outlets but also with third-party partners of the video providers. The bill, called H.R. 2471, sailed through the House with little debate and would amend the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a 1998 law that prohibits video rental providers from disclosing the lists of movies a customer has seen.

Netflix and other supporters of the bill say it would be cumbersome to get a customer's permission every time he wants to share a movie recommendation on Facebook or other social-media sites. Facebook users can share information about books they're reading or music they're listening to without having to opt in to sharing every time, supporters of the bill say.

But a handful of senators and privacy advocates questioned the legislation in a Tuesday hearing.

Let's say you like to watch heady documentaries on Netflix's streaming service, but once in awhile, you head over to the steamy romance section and watch "Last Tango in Paris" or "Reform School Girl." Would you want to automatically tell all your Facebook friends that you're watching one of those movies at 1 a.m. on a Saturday?

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's privacy and technology subcommittee asked witnesses at the hearing, including Netflix general counsel David Hyman, why this change to the VPPA is needed. A blanket approval to allow Netflix to share customers' movie choices with Facebook and other partners could lead to embarrassments, some senators said.

Netflix offers a service in other countries where customers can share what movies they're watching with Facebook friends, but viewers on PCs can click a button that stops Netflix from sharing any movie, Hyman said. But under the VPPA, it's unclear whether Netflix can get ongoing consent from U.S. customers to share their movie choices, he said.

Social media offers customers a powerful way to discover movies and television shows recommended by friends, he said. But the ambiguity in the VPPA "places a drag on social video innovation," when social-media users are free to share book, music and news article recommendations without giving permission each time, he said.

While Netflix wants the ability to get one-time permission from customers to share movie choices, Senator Tom Coburn questioned why it would be harder for Netflix to offer a button asking customers whether they want to share each movie. When customers allow Netflix to share their movie choices, they're giving the company information "they can make money off of," he said.

"Prudence in the protection of privacy ought to be the thing that guides us," added Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican. "The question is, should we err on the side of privacy or err on the side of commerce?"

Congress shouldn't be in the business of limiting what information Web users want to share on social media, said Christopher Wolf, a privacy lawyer with the Hogan Lovells law firm in Washington, D.C. In addition, Web users tend to tune out multiple warning screens and click through without thinking about it, he said.

If Web users had to give permission every time online services shared their data, "the number of reminders one would need every day would be in the thousands," Wolf said.

Privacy advocates called on Congress to strengthen the VPPA, not weaken it. One of the law's weaknesses is that it applies only to video rentals, said William McGeveran, a privacy advocate and professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.

"Unintended disclosure of a user's choices of books, music, films or websites can also constrain the capacity to experiment and explore ideas freely," he said.

It would be relatively simple for Netflix to offer a "play and share" button on every streaming movie, and that kind of service would satisfy the requirements of the VPPA, he added.

Once some video companies get customer permission to share movie choices, they may make it difficult to reverse that decision, McGeveran said.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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