The user interface of ParetoLogic Privacy Controls is clean (uncluttered) and pretty easy to understand. It has only 5 links to the left, namely Scan, Options, Schedule, Advanced Shred, and About. The main window of the program has a single link that says Scan.
The Scan link can be used to scan the computer. Clicking on the Scan button will give you a list of unwanted and leftover files categorised into the following sections:
Windows Cache and History: Contains temporary files, recycle bin files, recent document links and links to recent searches.
Internet Browsing History: Contains cookies, temporary Internet files, and links to recently visited sites.
MS Office History: Contains recently opened documents.
Multimedia History: Contains playlists, links to recently visited music sites and similar data.
Email Trash: Contains the trash folder of your email client and email activity logs.
Third Part Application History: This part contains data from IMs and any Peer to Peer Applications you used.
To sum up, the ParetoLogic Privacy Controls offers to cleanup almost all the private data on your computer. It lets you unmark the files you do not want to delete by unchecking the check box against the file. To see the details, click on the More Info link located to the top-right of each section. This will expand each section and the sub-sections (if applicable).
The best thing I noticed in ParetoLogic Privacy Controls is that it neatly classifies the unnecessary data files under different sections unlike its many competitors that just display the files that will be deleted. In the latter case, most of us do not get any idea as to what part of the computer is the file related.
The Advanced Shred Option allows you to add unwanted files and folders to a listbox that appears when you click on the option. You can then delete all these files and folders permanently, beyond recovery. The option allows you three types of shred. The first one is the Quick one, wherein the program employs a single pass. The second option under the Advanced Shred option employs three passes. The third option is the most powerful eraser as it allows you to completely destroy any number of files and folders with seven passes!
You can use the Options Link to select the sections or subsections that you do not want to be scanned. The Schedule option lets you re-schedule the automatic scanning. You can use the About option to get a valid license for your ParetoLogic Privacy Controls so that you can use all the features that are not available in the demo mode.
While ParetoLogic Privacy Controls is undoubtedly well designed and easy to use, it's nonetheless difficult to justify its $29.95 price tag as there are free applications, such as CCleaner, which will do everything that ParetoLogic Privacy Controls (in fact, CCleaner actually does more than Privacy Controls). My recommedation: save some bucks and go with a no-cost alternative.