14 DAY TRIAL // Why should others know where you've been on the Internet? Privacy includes not having access to the history of your web browser and deleting all the cookies you do not need. Additionally, some softwares leave their traces and recently opened documents are accessible to anyone using your computer.
These traces can be manually deleted but, trust me, you would rather let a software do that as there is always a folder you forget to empty and checking all the files so that you do not erase one you will need in the future is time consuming and tiresome. I tried this operation once and besides the fact that I did not do a good job, I wasted a lot of time figuring out which files to erase and which cookies to keep.
Such an Internet cleaning software comes at pretty reasonable prices, usually up to $30 and include options designed to empty special folder on your computer like Windows temporary files, IE cache and history, Run history, recent documents etc.
Evidence Cleaner fits perfectly the profile and the $29.99 price tag together with the set of features it is equipped make it no different then the myriad of similar softwares out there. And yet it surprises with the plug in editor available and the 50+ popular history data it can clean.
The interface is quite special and the mysterious look is eye catchy and easy to maneuver. The list of options is running down in the left-hand side of the window. The only downside in this concern would be the fact that it cannot be resized in any way and you won't be able to see the entire list of software plugins or the standard items.
Standard Items are those common to almost every trace cleaning application and includes areas of the computer such as clipboard, IE dropdown list, auto-complete form history, cookies, temporary Internet files and history for both IE and Netscape. The restricted number of web browsers affected by Evidence Cleaner comes somehow as a mischief if you consider that there is a significant number of users that navigate with Mozilla Firefox.
Besides the temporaries and evidence left behind by your default web browser you can also clean other areas of the computer like the recent document history, temporary file directory, recent file list in Windows Media Player, Windows Run History and Windows Search History.
Going into the plugin area will not impress an advanced user too much as this section is dedicated to neophytes or average computer users. Besides the usual crap included in this list, there are also interesting softwares like Avant browser, Yahoo! Messenger or Power DVD that can be stripped of the history or logs.
Luckily, there is a cookie manager that allows the user to select the important cookies that need to be saved and the dropdown list where you can specify the URLs that should not be included in the cleaning process. These tools come in handy when you do not want to type your ID and password every time you log in into your e-mail account.
The program's options menu comprises a series of options designed to make cleaning the traces easier. Thus, the application can be set to load with Windows and schedule it to perform a cleaning at a regular time interval. This way, you can set it and forget it. It will load with your OS, sit quiet in the system tray and do its job just like the user instructed it to.
Opposite the plugins that come with the application is the plugin editing tool that allows adding as many softwares as the user desires. This way, you can specify the application and define the path to the folder that needs to be cleaned.
The Good
The application is very easy to use and comes in very handy when your computer is used by more people and you do not want them to find out in which Internet areas you stroll.
The Bad
Before the cleaning takes place you will have to close all the applications Evidence Cleaner has business with. The files will not be deleted after the restart of those applications, so if you want a complete clean you will have to perform one right before shutting down your computer.
The Truth
Pretty good application leaving aside the minor mischiefs reported in ?The Bad? section. You have 15 days of evaluation in which to decide upon buying or not the application.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
