How to Select a Shred Level in Privacy Controls

ParetoLogic Privacy Controls > Tutorials > How to Select a Shred Level in Privacy Controls

How do I Select a Shred Level in ParetoLogic Privacy Controls?

Shredding Items in ParetoLogic Privacy Controls

ParetoLogic Privacy Controls has an Advanced Shred tool that works very much like a paper shredder, but it is actually even more effective than one. You decide the Shred level (detailed below) that ParetoLogic Privacy Controls will perform on your files that will consist of more than one overwrite. You can easily shred unwanted files from you system using ParetoLogic Privacy Controls, but first lets make sure you understand what shredding really is.

Shredding Explained

Your computers data is made up from “bytes” of information based on a binary numeric system. Every byte is made of a set of zeroes and ones, such as 01000110. The Shred tool in our application uses overwrite technology which is a way of taking the stored data and replacing it with a different set of numbers. This usually is done with a random group of zeroes and ones or all zeros.

Warning: Once you have shred items there is no way to recover them. We strongly recommend that you check every item that you selected to shred; to be sure they are all unwanted files before you proceed.

ParetoLogic Privacy Controls Shred Levels

You first select the items you want to permanently shred or you can add them to the Shred list by dragging and dropping them there. You then have to select what type of overwriting you want by choosing the Shred level. There are three types of levels to fit your needs in different circumstances. The three levels of ParetoLogic Privacy Controls are Quick, Safe, and Thorough as detailed below:

Quick Level – This shred level provides a fast shred with minimum security. The files are overwritten with a single random pass. They cannot be recovered without the use of complicated restoration equipment.
Safe Level – This shred level provides a safe shred with medium security. The files are overwritten with three passes according to DoD 5220-22M specifications – the U.S. Department of Defenses set standards for permanent erasure of digital information.

This setting is recommended since it meets the security requirements, but does not over-extend your systems resources.

Thorough Level – This shred level provides a thorough shred with high security. The files are overwritten as a Safe level shred (as explained above), but there is also four more additional passes for a total of seven.
This level of shred is very secure. It will take longer to perform especially if there are a lot of files selected at one time.

You can see the Advanced Shred window below showing the shred levels. The one selected in this example is Quick.

The example below shows the Thorough level selected:

Selecting the Shred Level

It is very easy to change the Shred level setting. Once you have the Advanced Shred window open all you need to do is click on the radio button that is located beside the level you want as shown in the examples above. Once you have done this you are now ready to begin shredding the chosen file or files.

Files that ParetoLogic Privacy Controls will not Shred

There are certain files that will not be shred with our application including:

Any files that are open and being used or any files that are locked by another application.
Any files that are located on a CD.
Any files that are located on a network drive that you do not have permission to overwrite.

When any of these file types are found by ParetoLogic Privacy Controls you will see a displayed message and the items are kept in the Shred list for you to examine.

ParetoLogic Privacy Controls Safeguards

You can be assured there is safeguards provided to prevent you from erasing items that are critical to the operating of your system or any that are required for applications you run.

Get the free ParetoLogic Privacy Controls download here!