| SurfSecret Privacy Protector: The Interface | Rating  |
The interface of the SurfSecret Privacy Protector is neither too simple nor too complex. It gives you an option called General where you can select the general Windows items to be removed. These include the Recycle Bin and Recent Documents Menu. Other than these two, the General Tab also offers you to allow or prevent cleaning of Run Dialog box, traces of the Searches, Windows temporary files, and other temp files.
The General Tab offers a special option for AOL. You can select or prevent SurfSecret Privacy Protector from deleting files related to America Online. Other than these, you will find the options to let the program clean at startup, shutdown, or browser close. You can also set the Shredder frequency here.
The Cookies tab lets you select if you want to clear up the cookies stored through different Browsers. In my opinion, there was no need to keep this under a separate Tab. It could have been included in the General Tab itself, as whatever browser you use, it will store cookies at the same places in the computer. The only thing important under this Tab is the ability to create a list of cookies that you want to keep.
Are All Tabs Necessary? There are a number of tabs on the left side of the SurfSecret Privacy Protector. Out of these, I found only the Third Party Applications Tab useful. Other Tabs display almost same options for different Internet browsers that could have been integrated into a single Tab. It does not make any significant meaning for offering the different tabs: one for Internet Explorer’s temporary files, then for Firefox, Opera, and so on.
However, the concept is very useful for people who are new to computers and are afraid of things going wrong. Offering each browser as a separate tab helps them select their options carefully in case they are using multiple browsers. It offers them a sense of security!
| SurfSecret Privacy Protector: Effectiveness of the Program | Rating |
One of the features to consider before buying the SurfSecret Privacy Protector is the Stealth Mode feature. As you can always clean your computer when you finish the work, I do not think that the feature is actually required. Though it performs real-time cleaning, but the cookies and temp files are required to stay on the computer as long as you are on the webpage or the application. If someone is bent upon checking your usage by interrupting you, he will still find the temporary files that reveal information about what you were doing. Under such circumstances, the very concept of Stealth Mode is not of much use. It is useful only for those who may forget to clean the computer after using it. However, this seldom happens. People concerned with privacy will run the cleaner as soon as they finish their tasks. In short, the feature is just an addition without much usage. A perfect analogy would be the Incognito mode offered in the Internet Explorer 8 that is not used by majority of people using the browser.
The Boss Key worked real fast. I tested it on three open windows of Internet Explorer. As soon as I used the key combination, all three windows were gone instantly, as if they were never there. However, it is also possible to minimize all the open windows with the key combination of Windows Key plus "D" even if you are not using the program. The only difference is that when you use the Boss key of SurfSecret's Privacy Protector, the windows are not visible even in the taskbar. You need to consider the extent of privacy protection while buying the Privacy Protector.
The Important Received Files Information option under the Messaging is also a good option to save the messages you want to keep. By default, it cleans all IM files from the custom directories as mentioned in the help files.
The SurfSecret Privacy Protector does clean what all it is instructed to clean, using the options under its many Tabs. All the cookies were gone. Even the index.dat files were removed. The Run Menu was clean and so was the Google Toolbar’s Search box. After the scan, I could not find any data file related to my Yahoo IM.
However, I found some important files left behind. The SurfSecret Privacy Protector does not give you some important options that are necessary for full computer cleaning.
| SurfSecret Privacy Protector: The Major Drawbacks | Rating |
After performing a clean with the SurfSecret Privacy Protector, I ran another program to clean the computer again. To my surprise, I found that the data pertaining to MSOFFICE and OE was still there. Initially, I thought that I might have not selected the options related to MSOFFICE. However, when I checked the Third Party Software Tab, I found that MSOFFICE was not listed there. This means that the SurfSecret Privacy Protector does not give you the options to cleanup traces of Outlook and MSOFFICE.
Another drawback of SurfSecret Privacy Protector is that the program does not give you a preview of the files so that you can select the files to be deleted when you click on the Clean Now button. This may cause deletion of any important file if you are not very careful while selecting the options before you run the SurfSecret Privacy Protector.
With all the research I did on the SurfSecret Privacy Protector, I found that though it cleans up several traces, it still needs to be worked upon to facilitate the cleaning of files related to MSOFFICE and Outlook Express that are generally used on a computer. In addition, the Stealth Mode did not make any sense to me. Still, as it can help you when you forget to clean the computer, you may find it useful. I highly recommend that you check out the extent of privacy you want before you spend your money on this software. If you too think that the Stealth Mode, Boss Key, and offering a number of tabs to increase the number of mouse clicks for selecting the cleaning options are not necessary, I would recommend that you go for a free software instead of the SurfSecret Privacy Protector.