Thought I have no problem to spend $16 on a program that I may feel is a quick or easy help to me, with every Window OS you already have this power. If you open any image with window's limited graphic program i.e. "Paint" that you see under Accessories, then save the image, all the EXIF is erased. Well you need to open one picture at a time rather than a batch but still it is there.

#26, "A hacker can easily search your computer for photo, because most people put their photos in the shared folder."

I would never put my photos in a "typical" folder, just as I don't put my docs in the "My Documents" folder -- easy targets for hackers yes, but even more, VIRUSES.

Also, "You should never store your picture on your internal hard drive or online anyway, you should always put them on a portable external hard drive or other external device and lock it in your safe."

Useful advice perhaps -- but currently my photos have only exposure details contained inside the Exif -- unfortunately I don't own a camera with a GPS built in. If I did, then I would obviously WANT to keep that -- so I know the exact spot in China, or wherever, I took the shot (so I can go back again). I agree that shots in my locale and even home would also have the GPS details -- and a hacker COULD make use of that. But gosh, it is even easier than that, and the "danger" is right now -- what about all the copies of LETTERS I have written, which have my exact ADDRESS at the top? They are all over my hard disk. If I am going to worry that a robber might hang around some idyll in China, on the CHANCE I might return there some day.... Well, if you take it that far, in future we'll all have to write "anonymous" letters to shops, service centres, suppliers, government departments -- and friends.

I can see some utility to this programme, but there are many other ones which are free -- I'll get one when I need one. And make sure it is more than just a "one-trick pony" that this one appears to be.

I already have version 1.6.

Installed this version 1.7 over the top and I am still left with 1.6

Anyone know the difference between 1.6 and 1.7 ?

The prog does what it says on the tin. The problem is that lots of people are not aware that their photos have any hidden data in them.

I wonder if the prog name was changed to something like photo hidden data cleaner , might get more sales.

I see 7 people atm dislike my comment #23, so here is one for you, can you please tell me of a freeware Exif Cleaner that has every Option, and the ease of use ExifCleaner has? Because all of the freeware ones listed here in comments Dont! some of them I cant even find the option to clean exif data, so why all the trouble just to clean some exif data with some photo manager when I can use ExifCleaner and do the job I need to do in seconds.

Have a Nice Day!

I do not have a problem with single use software. It's nice if it can be integrated, but often we take what we get.

It is a well-written program. One improvement I suggest is if it could examine photos on-screen without downloading.

The information supplied is good, I do not see any GPS info in the photo even those I took with a camera that has GPS. Maybe, there is stuff I am missing?

I am sure one day it will be useful so its a keep for me.


Some cameras are capable of recording the GPS location and inclination, useful for identifying where a photo was taken when one misfiles it.

I've been using this software since the previous GOTD so I was able to compare it with several similar free software programs in the meantime. I found this program to be better than all that I tested. Some of the other programs only do batch removal, other programs just do what they think is best etc. This program allows you to choose what you want to remove etc.

I found the help people to be very cooperative and answer emails quickly.

I particularly like that it removes the GPS info. All you have to do is post a picture of your house with the GPS info intact on a social site and mention that you are going on vacation and you could be in for a surprise when you get home.

# gerrymar
you are wrong. As any professional photographer will tell you. professionals use Adobe Photoshop. And when you change a picture resolution and other parameters in Photoshop and save a copy, it will strip all the EXIF data away and instead you will have "new Data" which contains Photoshop parameters but is useless for anything but Adobe Applications.

I went to exifdata.com and uploaded a few photos taken by me with a fairly recent-model camera and my camera phone, and some by friends and probably a pro photographer. I didn't see gps data in any of them. ???

re. my comment (still awaiting moderation, perhaps will be @34? by imontheinternet) - 'bout Photoscape,

sorry should've included download link:
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php

There is a free program called Photoscape that I love and is definitely one of my favourite go-to programs that can delete ALL the exif information.

I guess this would be handy if it didn't matter if there wasn't any exif info on your photos for say posting online etc. socially, however if you wanted to leave only technical details for say posting on a photography site then today's program would be better I guess.

Photoscape is such a comprehensive program though that's why I wanted to mention it.

You can see more about it here:
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/screenshot.php

and here:
http://www.rgdot.com/bl/2009/04/20/photoscape-for-all-your-image-editing-needs/

You can just view the exif info in Photoscape two ways;
(a) with the Viewer, double click on a photo, then right click, make sure "show photo EXIF" is selected to see exif info without the explanatory tags.

(b) or with the Editor, on the bottom right, click Menu, then Exif Info, a window pops up with the explanatory tags for all the exif info.

To delete all the exif info with Photoscape go to Viewer, right click on the photo, and select Delete Exif info (remember to back up your photos if you still want them with exif info somewhere else).

Thank you to the professional photographers' advice (@28 Tranmontane, and @31 gerrymar) re. how compressing photos deletes exif info, good to know :-)

A good freeware alternative: ExifToolGUI
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/~bogdan/

Good morning all,

I hate to take the wind out of companies sails as this could be a great program... BUT I like many prefer programs that multi task.

If you started to download single programs for everything you would be going crazy trying to find and load what you need.

So with that in mind check out FastStone Image Viewer, it does everything even erases meta data etc.

It is free for personal use and an excellent program, you have got to try it. Beware it is loaded with all you will ever need for photo editing!

I have been using it now for app. 4 months and I am still finding new things.

You can find this precious program at www.FastStone.org

Have a great day!

Correction to my original post (#24):
Batch Purifier Lite (freeware) URL is:

Batch Purifier Lite

Cheers,
Inas

#28. I've dealt with computer security for a few years. The comment by #26 John Smith hits the nail on the head. I'm also professional photographer and like you I would never post any of my photos anywhere on the Internet IN FULL RESOLUTION. Regardless of how well you've optimized or copy protected your photos, exif information is still there. Hackers are not after your photos, they're after your wallet.

Interesting program, but I really have no need of it. Unlike #28, I am not a professional photographer. What few photos I upload to a picture-sharing website are not of any quality worth protecting. Furthermore, I never set my camera time, so that pictures I take in the afternoon are described in the EXIF tag as being taken at 1:30am! Maybe this would be a useful program to me if the EXIF tags were giving away my social security number.

Portable installed for me without having to fiddle with anything! It worked...

This is actually quite ridiculous. As a professional photographer I certainly have no need for it. I would never post any of my photos anywhere on the Internet -- IN FULL RESOLUTION. Because for a start, that gives anyone a perfect opportunity to rip me off -- steal my photo, and sell it on, in some country they think I am unlikely to visit, or to a website I am unlikely to see.

If I ever post a photo on a website -- like assisting my wife to put my photos of her on Facebook, I make sure (a) it has my copyright notice in a watermark on it, and (b) more importantly, it is first "tweaked" for contrast, etc. -- because when that copy is saved, automatically the added compression REMOVES any EXIF data.

So I don't need any additional programme to remove it.

Given the number of "cowboys" out there, I don't know why anyone would want to put a full-res photo out there for all to see -- and some to steal. Complete with your EXIF information. Even if you only apply just SOME compression after tweaking, it is all gone.

TWO operations to achieve what one will do? Why make hard work out of it??

I'll probably get voted down for saying this, but it bears thinking about.

I have been using the previous version given away last August by GAOTD and found it useful. I really appreciate the easy install. Although EXIF is only for jpgs it does alot. When I am sharing photos on facebook and other social media sites (including my website) I don't want my gps location and other personal information tagged to the picture. By automatically making a cleaned duplicate, it is easy to share these pictures without removing anything from the original. You can use the default settings or customize what you want removed.
For the novice this great and does what it is suppose to do.

on #11 Harrym, I would like to comment, You may think that there is no harm in leaving the info on a picture, but other people can find exactly where you live and whats in your house. Example, If you taken a picture of you house during the holidays, a thief is not looking at the people, he is looking whats in your home. Now couple that with you data you left on your Pics. Know they have the GPS coordinates of your home and whats inside. If that's not enough keep uploading your vacation photos year after year and they will figure out you got either a time share or go on vacation the same time every year.

Lets review, now they know what you have and when to steel it. Also A hacker can easily search your computer for photo, because most people put their photos in the shared folder.

That's not even the scary stuff, just imagine a peti-file looking at your children and being able to get the location of their school, where they play sports, who they hang out with and the times and dates of these activities. Once they have the info they can find and stalk them if they want. It is very important in today's age to keep your private lives private. Another example is #22 Terry, He found the location of an Item he was looking for, just by the photo.

Just a suggestion, you should never store your picture on your internal hard drive or online anyway, you should always put them on a portable external hard drive or other external device and lock it in your safe.
It may seem extreme but this is what is happening out there right now and why programs like these are becoming very popular. I for one are glad to see these program available, thank you GOTD!!!

Obviously Russian-written; try English. No interest here.

smooth download, installation, activation (of installable version) on Vista x64 OS. Simple, clean, easy-to-navigate GUI & program does as it says on TIN. Actually, ExifCleaner (v1.6) program was offered on here on GOTD on August 13, 2011.
Version 1.7 improvements include the following:

1.7 (February 24, 2012)
[+] Made a reference to the article on the ICC profile.
[+] A digital signature and a time-stamp were applied to the program executables.
[+] Ensured compatibility with the Windows 8 Developer Preview.
[+] Successfully tested against Ubuntu Linux 11.10 64-bit and Wine 1.3.28.
[!] From now on, the Remove ICC option is turned off by default.
[!] Fixed the loading bug occurring when preview image’s data cannot be found in existing Exif’s thumbnail section.
[!] Upgraded the used list/tree control.
[!] Add Directory now remembers the most recently used folder path.
[!] Several internal tweaks.

In summary: Program is easy to use & does as it says, so two-thumbs-up from me - thanks GOTD & SuperUtils for this great sofware.

Alternate Freeware Options:

Easy Exif Delete
Batch Purifier Lite

I find this to have more and smarter options than the Freeware Exif cleaners out their, and it was also very easy to use. I was using jStrip from 2006 and tried some others that were either useless or a pain. I hardly remove Exif Data though so I would never consider paying $15 bucks for it even though it has more Options than the Freeware ones out their, but I am happy to get it today for free :)

@11. Well someone recently sent me some pics of WW2 bayonets & knives and I was able to see the house that he lived in from th EXIF data and Google Maps.

He was shocked when I gave him HIS postcode. (This is only possible, I suspect, with GPS enabled cameras.)

This software works fine and deleted what was needed to prevent loss of security. A very wise precaution as you will NEVER know where your photos might end up.

If you are posting your pictures online, in a photo album somewhere, you may want to remove at least some of your exif data then

Used this when first released 12 years ago.

Would not buy though it has improved over the years.

Works great on on Win 7 64 bit. I love that you can drag a folder onto the file list and it will automatically traverse and process all sub folders. Ran it on a folder with over 40 sub-folders and a few thousand images and it worked a treat. Thanks.

I knew of course that digital images contain hidden data (date and time for example), but until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't realised just how much data is stored on any photograph taken by any ordinary digital camera.

I recently came across the following website that reveals this information: http://exifdata.com/ and I uploaded a couple of old holiday snapshots and was astonished at the amount of data "hidden" in the pictures.

Now, normally the existence of this data wouldn't bother me but over the past few months I have been increasingly using "anonymous image boards" to browse and upload images. Often these are screen shots of my system. Many people upload pictures taken from i-phones and the like. Anyone re-downloading such a picture may now have access to the poster's GPS co-ordinates using the site mentioned above or software.

I will definitely be testing this software (or the free alternative proposed by krypto) after waiting to see a few more tests and a few more free alternatives.

Thanks to SuperUtils + GOTD.
Installed the desktop version easily.

This software is to be used with caution with your photos. If you want to remove EXIF data before posting on Internet, do it to a copy of the photo.

Don't remove EXIF data from your original photo which you keep in your hard disk.

Kestrel GX can do much more than just Edit Exif data. Free for personal and educational use. Hence no need of this Give away. Not tried portable version of Kestrel

Aravinda Kumar

SuperUtils Software,I would like to ask if the portable edition has some limitations compared to the installable one. Also, why is this for experienced users?

Hi, I would like to applaud little detail in Registration (apart from it's ease!) that appears after intalling and activating - It states: "Registered to GOTD 3/18/2012 (Giveaweay)"

I reckon that giving a Date(!) of GAOTD, and not just Version.. - can be very useful Information, and I wish more Developers followed SuperUtils Software's Example!:)

Thanks for this Offer, I too become persuaded by links to uTubes in #1:)

I already had the trial version of Exif Cleaner, which was limited to 7 photos per day, so this is a real bonus, especially with a portable version as well.
The software is very limited to just clearing, most but not all, data from photos. I would prefer if it could EDIT data as well. Otherwise this is a handy programme to have.

I do not like single feature software. I have been using portable version of XNview to do this it works well. Portable FS Viewer is another option.

EXIF data is useful and shouldn't be deleted. This meta-data is included by the camera when taking the photo. Some elements are useful for the correct display of the image, such as the color-space. Some cameras are capable of recording the GPS location and inclination, useful for identifying where a photo was taken when one misfiles it.

A small thumbnail is also included, which is normally used by Windows Explorer and other utilities to quickly display the image's thumbnail. If it is absent, Explorer will need to generate it in its cache, so will take much more time to display a folder of images.

The EXIF data takes only a small percentage of the size of the photo and does not contain any information that can be used to identify the photographer, except for the exact camera model. I really recommend against its erasure.

$ 15.95? It is somehow a joke for a program that just clears the EXIF? IrfanView is free, cleans EXIF, and knows much, much more. :)

In addition, Ashraf liked it.

I have not tried the software, so I cannot be very critical, but from reading the key features, I feel there are many applications that can do this for free...and more.
Unless your software can do something unique, I cannot see the purpose to buy it.
Are there any unique features that I have missed? I think users will want to know this.

I wouldn't usually even try software like this - to mess with photos - but the help from the devs in post #1 - esp linking two help videos - persuades me to give it a go. Thanks.

16$ for this !!! got many freewares out there for this work !! gonna use it, though if I was told to pay for it I had better choose a freeware !!!

It's a little useless to make an application with just a single use. Like in this case, the ability to just delete EXIF data. Freeware alternatives allow you to delete, modify and add EXIF data.

For example http://www.photome.de/

SuperUtils is a Russian company. Direct quote from their changelog:
1.0 (September 24, 2009) The first public release of ExifCleaner.

From PhotoME website:
First version (v0.2) released on Thu Dec 21, 2006.

The software wrapper (in setup.exe) seems to be dated to yesterday and refused installing (portable version). After changing my PC's date to yesterday, it installed fine.
Since the app is already activated, using it is like a breeze. Comparing exif data of the original picture with the newly created picture_cleaned.jpg reveals that only part of the exif data is cleaned like make, camera model, picture mode and any comment. The non-private-technical data like aperture, flash, scene mode etc. is still there.
That works fine for me, so thumbs up!

Cannot install Portable version, I get a message: "Giveaway period for this software is over". What???

portable setup insists ts giveaway is over. tried re-download and install 4 times.

Hello-hello!

This is a quick start guide for the ExifCleaner photo metadata remover:

1. Download and install the program, then run it. This giveaway is already activated, so you do not need to deal with serial numbers. (Do note that the regular installable version is highly recommended for you instead of the portable edition, which is for experienced users)
2. Add a few photos into the list, then click “Clean Setup”.
3. Configure cleaning options and hit the Clean button.
4. Your photos were cleaned of the metadata. Now you may safely upload them to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

To figure out how to use the software, you can watch the following recorded screencasts on YouTube: no.1, no.2.

Thank you for your interest!