BleachBit does not erase everything

Submitted by EddyQ on Mon, 04/23/2018 - 17:04
Forums: 
Discussion
Forum tags: 
bug

1. First I used WinHex to look for “this is a test of BleachBit”. It got 0 hits.
2. Then I did a Google search for that phrase. Then I used WinHex again and found 10 hits on the phrase.
3. Next I used my browser to clear the history. Then I used WinHex again and found 5 hits.
4. Then I used BleachBit to “wipe free space”. Then used WinHex again and found 2 hits.

BleachBit version: 
2.0
Your operating system: 
Windows 10

EddyQ

Mon, 04/23/2018 - 17:08

I notice the following in the .log file:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "bleachbit\GUI.pyo", line 595, in cb_wipe_free_space
File "bleachbit\GuiBasic.pyo", line 40, in browse_folder
File "bleachbit\Windows.pyo", line 121, in browse_folder
pywintypes.com_error: (-2147467259, 'Unspecified error', None, None)
C:\Program Files (x86)\BleachBit\library.zip\bleachbit\CLI.py:219: GtkWarning: inner_clipboard_window_procedure: assertion `success' failed

EddyQ

andrew

Mon, 04/23/2018 - 17:11

Which browser (brand and version)?

Did you use WinHex against the whole hard drive (including deleted files) or against undeleted files (in your browser configuration directory)?

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Andrew, lead developer

EddyQ

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 06:13

I used WinHex on the full drive C.

EddyQ

EddyQ

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 06:19

I'm using Chrome Version 66.0.3359.117 (Official Build) (64-bit)

EddyQ

andrew

Tue, 04/24/2018 - 20:46

Do you have a way to search in your Google Chrome profile directory to determine whether the file with this information was deleted?

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Andrew, lead developer

EddyQ

Wed, 05/02/2018 - 19:08

I erased the files by Shift/Delete.

EddyQ

EddyQ

Wed, 05/02/2018 - 19:12

My error, I let Chrome erase the file. And No, there is no way to determine that Chrome actually deleted the file. But I think it did because it is gone from the history.

EddyQ

andrew

Fri, 05/11/2018 - 21:53

Do you use Chrome Sync? This is the feature where you sign into Google Chrome using your Google account, and it syncs your information between browsers, like to your phone.

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Andrew, lead developer

EddyQ

Sat, 05/12/2018 - 05:37

Yes I use Chrome Sync. I will run the test again but without bringing up Chrome again after I use it to clear the history.

EddyQ

andrew

Sat, 05/12/2018 - 15:06

BleachBit 2.0 does not remove history from Sync Data.sqlite3, and I will work on that for the next release. (I also have many other Chrome improvements in progress now, and some are available for testing from ci.bleachbit.org) For now, I suggest this test

  1. Run Google Chrome
  2. Do a Google search for a random string of ~8 random characters. Make a note of this for a step below.
  3. Close Google Chrome
  4. In the BleachBit preferences, enable overwriting contents
  5. Use BleachBit to clean all of Google Chrome
  6. Use BleachBit to shred Sync Data.sqlite3
  7. Use grep (or WinHex, if it supports it) or similar tool to search for the same random string (from Google Search) among the remaining files in the Google Chrome profile folder. (In other words, these files are not deleted.)

    8. If you want to wipe the Sync Data file every time, you can add it as a custom option in the BleachBit preferences.

    I'll plan to add an expanded version of this testing procedure to docs.bleachbit.org

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Andrew, lead developer

EddyQ

Sun, 05/13/2018 - 08:05

Thanks

EddyQ