Abstract Rheological properties of dough and bread
quality of frozen dough-bread containing 18.4% of
hydroxypropylated (HTS), acetylated (ATS), and phosphorylated
cross-linked (PTS) tapioca starch with diVerent
degrees of modiWcation and 1.6% of dried powdered gluten
were compared to the same amount of native tapioca starch
(NTS) or wheat Xour-bread. Doughs substituted with native
or modiWed tapioca starches had the same mixing tolerance
as 100% wheat Xour. The dough was frozen and stored for
1 week at ¡18°C, and thawed (one freeze-cycle). The
amount of freezable water in the dough substituted with
native or modiWed tapioca starches was not signiWcantly
diVerent from that of wheat Xour. Frozen dough-bread
substituted with highly modiWed HTS (degree of substitution;
DS 0.09–0.11) retarded bread staling, while lowly
modiWed HTS (DS 0.06–0.07) or ATS (DS 0.02–0.04), and
PTS (0.004–0.020% phosphoryl content) substitution fastened
bread staling as compared with frozen dough-bread
baked from wheat Xour. The breadcrumbs containing HTS
and ATS felt tacky, whereas the bread containing PTS was
dry feel. HTS and ATS swelled and collapsed easily during
heating, while PTS was diYcult to swell and disperse as
compared with NTS, therefore the gelatinization properties
seemed to aVect the texture of bread. Breadcrumb containing
HTS showed small Wrmness during storage, and highly
modiWed HTS-h (DS 0.1) was the smallest. This means
highly hydroxypropylated tapioca starch signiWcantly
retards bread staling. Staling properties and texture of frozen
dough-bread with various tapioca starches were the
same as conventional bread baked with the same amount of
tapioca starches. These results suggest that a one freeze–
thaw cycle and a 1-week frozen period do not change
characteristics of starch, gelatinization and retrogradation
properties as compared with the conventional method, and
the highly modiWed HTS-h is prominent anti-staling foodstuV
in frozen dough.

Abstract Rheological properties of dough and bread
quality of frozen dough-bread containing 18.4% of
hydroxypropylated (HTS), acetylated (ATS), and phosphorylated
cross-linked (PTS) tapioca starch with diVerent
degrees of modiWcation and 1.6% of dried powdered gluten
were compared to the same amount of native tapioca starch
(NTS) or wheat Xour-bread. Doughs substituted with native
or modiWed tapioca starches had the same mixing tolerance
as 100% wheat Xour. The dough was frozen and stored for
1 week at ¡18°C, and thawed (one freeze-cycle). The
amount of freezable water in the dough substituted with
native or modiWed tapioca starches was not signiWcantly
diVerent from that of wheat Xour. Frozen dough-bread
substituted with highly modiWed HTS (degree of substitution;
DS 0.09–0.11) retarded bread staling, while lowly
modiWed HTS (DS 0.06–0.07) or ATS (DS 0.02–0.04), and
PTS (0.004–0.020% phosphoryl content) substitution fastened
bread staling as compared with frozen dough-bread
baked from wheat Xour. The breadcrumbs containing HTS
and ATS felt tacky, whereas the bread containing PTS was
dry feel. HTS and ATS swelled and collapsed easily during
heating, while PTS was diYcult to swell and disperse as
compared with NTS, therefore the gelatinization properties
seemed to aVect the texture of bread. Breadcrumb containing
HTS showed small Wrmness during storage, and highly
modiWed HTS-h (DS 0.1) was the smallest. This means
highly hydroxypropylated tapioca starch signiWcantly
retards bread staling. Staling properties and texture of frozen
dough-bread with various tapioca starches were the
same as conventional bread baked with the same amount of
tapioca starches. These results suggest that a one freeze–
thaw cycle and a 1-week frozen period do not change
characteristics of starch, gelatinization and retrogradation
properties as compared with the conventional method, and
the highly modiWed HTS-h is prominent anti-staling foodstuV
in frozen dough

This program's creator obviously targets the paranoid. If someone can access your computer long enough to attempt a file recovery, either they are in your house and could just steal your credit cards, or you have a terrible firewall. Or you are just stupid and forwarded all your ports for universal access. Also, you can easily create a macro to do the same thing, albeit less efficiently, by making it repeatedly create and delete useless files.

After the Heidi Eraser site came back up, I tried both the most recent current 5.8.7 release and the 6.0.5.1114 release candidate. Since it runs at logon, under Vista, the 5.8.7 release should have its program compatibility (instead of shortcut) set to run as an administrator in order for all features to be available, however, the 6.0.5 RC should not. I was dismayed to find an open ticket for 5.8.7 indicating that it can corrupt partitions (but most users are unlikely to encounter this situation). On the other hand, 6.0.5 is too buggy to use, it doesn't even remotely qualify as a release candidate.

My remarks about the installation problems being Bill Gate's fault are because he's supposed to be the chief software architect of Windows (not the same as a programmer), so he should be aware of the problems with different versions of software installations interfering with each other, and especially different versions of BASIC, since that's his personal favorite language. It wasn't my intention to get this thread off-track.

#63, watcher13, the Bill Gates email which you linked was shocking. Although a few years old, it shows him to be completely out-of-touch with the architecture of Windows, the Microsoft website, and Windows update procedures. If I was chairman of Microsoft, I'd be using Windows all the time, examining its features and usability, update procedures, and internal workings. This just shows that you don't have to have decent products, staff, or procedures when you've got a huge illegal monopoly.

#57, mike, although I certainly don't always agree with you, and in particular there are numerous serious problems with this comment of yours, you have my respect because you give rational opinions without name-calling. The question wasn't whether BASIC is a good or bad language. The early BASIC interpreters which Bill Gates wrote (that's not the same as creating the BASIC language, which I never said) are the only code which I know for sure he wrote himself. He probably worked on the CP/M clone which he purchased for $50,000 and which became MS-DOS/PC-DOS. He retired from coding early (good thing). BASIC was largely obsolete at the time Bill Gates was writing his interpreters. Pascal, although generally compiled, not interpreted, existed and was a vastly superior language (of course, it's also been obsolete for some time). Pascal was designed to be a very easy-to-use teaching language, and while one can argue that all useful implementations diverged from the too-restrictive original spec, one can say the same thing of most language implementations. Long ago, I looked at using Microsoft's BASIC interpreter which they wrote for the Apple II (sold under the Apple name), probably largely written by Bill Gates, and it was unusable, it couldn't do anything. Some of us would argue that the BASIC language itself was obsolete at the time it was created, we used a vastly (and I do mean vastly) more powerful interpreted language which significantly predated BASIC when I was in college. Your other remarks would take too long to go into briefly.

#84, rodken, sorry I missed your comment, I didn't look at the comments again until just now, this thread was getting too far off-topic and taking up too much of my time. Reohix installations make a mess out of VB-related registry entries, although they don't appear to overwrite VB DLL's and OCX's, nor register their own (which presumably would only be used if you didn't already have the VB controls installed). However, even that could be a problem if their controls are newer than yours. That's why installations need to be done properly. I said this sort of thing was Bill Gate's fault, because improper application installations should only mess up those applications, not ones which you already have installed. That goes to the architecture of Windows, and has never been fixed (it's not like Microsoft hasn't had time, and it should have been done properly in the first place).

Seems to be a free 30 day trial.. that's not a free product is it? Works on a single file under Vista .. don't know whether its gone as securely as claimed as there seems to be no way to get a hard disc reader for Vista.

Consumer Reports Best Buy (2009 book) recommended to use Eraser to delete sensitive info on harddrive. The site to download is in Germany. (see other posts). A software normally must write >30 times over the free space to completely remove the remnant of old data, to meet the security requirements of DoD.
I have used BCWipe, and CCleaner, and now we have Freeze Burn to evaluate. Thank you GAOTD.

Did not like the idea that if you liked the programme then you have to purchase it. It is not a great deal of money but I thought that this was a give away and not a taster for sales. The programme itself worked fine for me so as previous comments have said; perfect for the commercial environment.

D. #85: There is only one explination, Bill Gates did it.

Something the developer(s) might be interested to hear:

After some experimenting, I found that the "Setup.msi" file cannot be run when it is anywhere under a regular folder that has anywhere with the name of that folder a "Grave Accent" (also called a "Backtick", "Single Quote" or "Left Apostrophe"). A Grave Accent is the character that appears under the Tilda on the key in the upper-left corner of the keyboard. So if you have a folder that has a Grave Accent anywhere within the name of that folder, and the "Setup.msi" file is anywhere under that said folder...that is, however many folders deep that the "Setup.msi" file is placed, then the "Setup.msi" file cannot run and a small window will pop up stating:

"This installation package could not be opened. Verify
that the package exists and that you can acccess it, or
contact the application vendor to verify that this is a
valid Windows Installer package."

However, an unextracted "Setup.msi" file (that's in the zipped folder) will run when the zipped folder that it is in is at any level under a folder with a Grave Accent in the folder's name, unless the zipped folder is directly under that said folder. The unextracted "Setup.msi" file also will not run when a Grave Accent is in the name of the zipped folder that contains it. Moreover, the "Setup.msi" file, whether unextracted or extraccted, will not run when the Grave Accent is within the "Setup.msi" file's name.

I had the unfortunate experience of going through all of this because I download GOTD zip folders within a folder that is under a folder that I had put a Grave Accent as the first character in its name. I did this because I wanted to make that folder one of the first folders in the list without having a large "1" or bracket or parenthesis...which also would cause the folder to be more first in order, but I wanted the small tick because it was discreet.

Who would have ever known that the Grave Symbol in a folder name would cause a setup app to error when run? The "Setup.msi" file is the only file that has ever erred because of that Grave Accent in an upper folder name. As of now, I had removed the Grave Accent and precceded the folder name with a "(1."...which puts it first in line.

I am running XP 2 on an somewhat older Gateway machine.

Hay people I thought Forums was for Rants, Ravs & Wringing & this part was for comments on the software. I'm not an old foggy just a small fish in a big sea with lots of big sharks.

Well I don't know about anyone else but I just wasted a $#!t load of time reading todays comments, which were rather useless (not all though)..... So I've learned that there actually are Bill Gates lovers, and Henry Ford is responsible for Global warming!
To the "Fubar-Haters" if any of you have been coming here for a while and have been reading Fubars comments (the first ones I look for) then you would know he does know his $#!t (and dislikes China,don't know why, don't care) And if you know yours than prove it (fact or example?) instead of just insults.
To Fubar, don't know if you check out the comments this late but wanted to ask you about what you meant exactly by "Reohix’s installations are terrible". I checked out there site last time they offered Fresh Ram, and liked there site and was also impressed with their variety of freeware.
I know you already know this but when you respond to nonsense your actually giving them false hope that someone cares about their opinion.
Thanks GAOTD and Reohix for the offer haven't tried it out yet but will.
Sorry for the this useless comment.

@5...I'm sure all the flaws, foulups, and problems with MS products aren't Bill Gates fault. Microsoft certainly isn't a one-man corporation and Bill Gates wasn't the sole developer of MS apps.

@56 Mike, sorry, I just noticed that you answered the #5 comment. Anyway, I was thinking from a different point of view in #19 (I didn't blame "Bill" or anyone else).

#57 Antonio (& anyone else): Just before I posted I saw your comment. So please allow me to say upfront before you or anyone else reading the following that I’m referring only to GAOTD commercial developers, as they are responsible for their presentation to us & are presumably professionals, so in no way would I ever refer to specific people here, because this forum is just about personal thoughts of individuals (even though maybe no one would take it personally, I just wanted to minimize that possibility). #7 Billy, & others: Hey guys & gals. I’ve been coming to this site most days for the last few months, & so far have not downloaded anything. My reasons for not downloading yet (passing again on today’s GAOTD—thanks anyway) have included that: helpful people have given info & links to comparable freeware products, & heeding the advice of the folks who are able to test these apps, who know what to look for, who challenge the credibility of the developers claims, who give important warnings, as well as the ordinary folks who share their successes & horror stories. I only have one computer & as a grad student with only loans to live on for now, can’t take the type of risks others have. However, I have learned a lot just from reading & following comments (thanks to GAOTD & the people here). I also enjoy the banter between posters, as some are helpful & some are funny as h**l, especially the sarcastic ones. The ones who slam others can be mean at times, while still others get into tit-for-tat nitpicking. Here’s one for today’s offer that I don’t care if others get on my case about: it is the awkward sentences like the following that raise credibility concerns (what if their critical help files you may need (post-installation) are even more unintelligible than the ones that are sometimes hard enough (in plain English) to comprehend)? From their own product descriptions: “…..any deleted data contain inside such sensitive files is never recoverable or readable in anyway, using any whatsoever (???????) file recovering technology.” I realize a few posters are either overly critical of some developers grammar & sentence structure, while others come back at them & say things like: “shut up about that” (& may to me too), but others who have commented that the really poor developer’s descriptions raise legitimate concerns over quality control & attention to detail that may indicate warnings about the products that we are taking the chances on. Really, the developers only have room for a few sentences (& only 1 chance to make a good impression), so how could they overlook this? Even if it has to do with translation issues at times, if they hope to snag future customers, it would seem that the little extra time & effort needed to get help for these couple sentences may indicate lack of care or concern for those of us that they want to download their products. At the least, they should monitor comments & join in to address some of this in order for us to minimize the risks we are taking. Having now looked at hundreds of comments, a large number of people here do not—as I have not yet—download some products because their questions & issues have not been attended to in the 24 hours we have to choose what the best option is. But overall, the developers are getting the exact type of feedback they need—honest, raw feelings combined with technical feedback to make a better product. I would like to see more of the developers join in several times during this limited 24 hours, as I have watched the few developers who have done so can give valuable feedback & show that they care & are on top of things. I’ll chime in at times & give my free (what it’s actually worth) thoughts. Thanks y’all & GAOTD. madalpal

I like Eraser better. On another note, if I wish to destroy files on the computer I built it really doesn`t matter why I wish to do this. It is my property and I`ll crush the stinking file if I wish.

Regardless of what anyone tells you, overwriting your data with zeros just once is enough to prevent anyone recovering anything but a few scattered bytes which will provide practically no useful information, and there are dozens of freeware programs that will do that and more.

You guys can complain about basic all you like but remember this, back in the 70's when computers were just getting started basic is the language that came with them. How many modern programmers started out on basic? MOST of them. I still use 3.2 for simple stuff that doesn't need graphics.. about 95% of what I do. It worked then and still does just fine.

Ok so why is there a program like this?

To be completely sure that your data from the deleted file can't be recovered, you may also have to securely erase all the free space (in addition to securely removing the file). This is because, while editing the file, some editors (especially MS word) create several backup files that in turn or deleted over time. What good is erasing the main file without also erasing their backup copies? If you are paranoid, do also use a program such as ccleaner (as suggested by #22) to erase free space.

There are so many free eraser programs, why would a publisher waste their time and money to develop one to sell. I had a fully functional earlier version of Eraser. I went for the new version as recommended by some users here. The result was it would not load due to some dll issues. "Thanks" to all that recommended this "upgrade". I lost that program. It took a few tries with Revo to get rid of it. I know there is a portable version but that won't restore my right click option. I installed Freeze Burn but can't get it to do a right click menu. It says it's enabled but no joy when right clicking. Bottom line I have many tools to erase a file... but I would recommend you check out file Shredder. You can get it at http://www.fileshredder.org/index.php

Bill Gates knew a little bit of Visual Basic, and he never did any coding in Windows.

Real simple: A hard drive contains trillions (or more) Bits. This is simply a 1 or 0 when ALL (every single one) ore moved to all 0's or all 1's there is nothing to be read. THEORETICALLY using a microscope you can tell what the previous state was (either 1 or 0)so after erasing if a person or agency looks at each and avery bit through a microscope they can tell what it use to read and decifer the data that was present, THEORETICALLY. After more than 1 write process (the Guttman 35 is WAY overkill)the former state can not be read, if it ever could be to begin with. Do a 1-3 pass random data rewrite, and as long as your program rewrites ALL of the disk surface you will NEVER have to worry about any data being left. Eraser and DBAN work flawless and are free

Just a comment. As a security professional, there are still ways to recover information that is overwritten even if the data is overwritten easily to 15 times.

Spinning up a hard drive platter that is hooked to an oscilliscope will result in various signal strengths. The strongest signal is the newest overwrite, by tracking each weaker signal, a technician can go back as far as necessary.

can we now get back to the proggy of the day put the quarrels to rest & get back to it & other related proggy's somewhat like normall or do you all need a "time out" in the corner children.

I agree MASA, the name is so cool.

#1: Eraser is free, available always, right-click interface, more reliable, and it's known exactly how Eraser works, so in general more secure and able to be trusted.

#2: From the description above:
The only way to securely delete a file is by overwriting all the data that it contains with new and unrelated digits at least for few times. This is what Freeze Burn will do.

"At least for few times"... At least a few times, I assume, is what they mean, but how many is a few? So unprofessional writing.

No.

fubar thanks for your insightfull comments & sometimes comedic commentaries please keep up your particpation in this project as there are many of us that appreciate some kind of lucid & educated commentary on what is being offered don't let some of these j**k asses get under skin Thanks

Sorry, I should have said Gates displayed hilarious ignorance about how his own company worked, not just the OS.

I learned a long time ago, posting here is like taking a swim in shark infested waters. But here I go.

Since BladedThoth left, I have relied mostly on Fubar or Mr. B's(BuBBy) comments as to whether I download or not. In fact, just this week I said that to someone on the phone from the forum. I did not download this program because I don't need anything like that since I have many programs that do that......PLUS. And that Fubar said it wasn't worth it. I have been downloading from here since Jan of 06.

Just wanted you to know that, Fubar, some of us do appreciate your knowledge. But I do play games and I use them for pain management. End of story.

Way to tell it like it is, Fubar. The only thing I would quibble with you is that I don't think it's Bill Gates computer decisions (if he's even capable of making any) that have hurt the industry the most, it's his completely cutthroat business decisions, which you hint at. The real source of his wealth. I agree with tech writer Paul Thurott's and others who say the problem with MS is that there's a good Microsoft and a bad Microsoft and Dollar Bill and his evil disciples are the bad Microsoft:

"As I've noted in the past, the Windows Division retains, as employees of the software giant have told me, the last vestiges of the bad, old Microsoft. This is the Microsoft that ran roughshod over competitors in order to gain market share at any cost. The Microsoft that forgot about customers in its blind zeal to harm competitors. The Microsoft, that frankly, all the Linux and Apple fanatics always imagined was out there, plotting and planning their termination. The Microsoft that threatens Windows fans with needless legal threats rather than reaching out and creating constructive relationships with the very people who prop up the company the most....

... Sadly, Gates, too, is part of the Bad Microsoft, a vestige of the past who should have had the class to either formally step down from the company or at least play just an honorary role, not step up his involvement and get his hands dirty with the next Windows version. If blame is to be assessed, we must start with Gates. He has guided--or, through lack of leadership--failed to guide the development of Microsoft's most prized asset. He has driven it into the ground."

And this guy's a Windows FAN. Note: this was written before Darth Bill "retired".

Also, I imagine you've seen, but others may have not, Bill's famous email meltdown. He makes some good points, but, what's hilarious to me is the absolute ignorance he showed about the state of his own operating system.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp

Ebenezer Scrooge had a lot of money, too, but was still marked for "reformation" by the heavens. (Just an analogy. I KNOW Scrooge was fictional. At least, in theory. :) ).

Sorry to post off topic, but MANY in the industry agree with Fubar and I thought someone should point that out.

The only 100% secure way to make sure that no one can read your hard drive is this: Open it, dismantle, and smash the platter with a hammer.

While this giveawayoftheday is not so useful to me, it is nice to visit here to read some interesting comments. So, I am learning something about the history of the computer here, and about Bill Gates. That is also a giveawayoftheday. Thanks everyone and GOTD staff for giving me more than just free paywares.

#7 Thanks God english is not the only language in the world.
Today, 90% of the best programmers in the world are not native english speakers.
Programming is a totally different activity from writting, specially english writting.
Thus, if you are expending so much time "browsing through open-source software code", try to live more and program more than browse the work from others. This will surely teach you more.
About the GAOTD it seems good and, obviously, it is free.
I will give it a chance. THANKS GAOTD.
(and, please everybody, excuse my poor "english writting skills").

#4 and #48,
I know this will get a bunch of thumbs down.
But seeing 64 thumbs down on #4 Fubar's comment... I feel I have to clue in people new to this site. Fubar should never get a single thumbs down. I search every day on this page for his invaluable comments. He's an automatic thumbs up.

#39, tracy, although you use the abbreviation "SD", which normally implies a memory card, you specifically mention an external "storage drive", so I infer that you probably mean an external USB or FireWire hard drive of some sort. One possibility is to disable your AutoRun/AutoPlay handling. There's a lot of information about that which you can look up, but it can be complex, especially if the drive isn't attached, and there can be problems depending upon what Microsoft security updates you have (or more specifically, don't have). An easier option might be to run anti-virus/anti-malware software which has a realtime scanner to block the malware. You can download trials of most security software. For your specific case, I don't know which is best. I use an integrated security package, Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro, but it may be overkill for your temporary purposes (although you should be running something decent all the time). Ideally, you want something which is good not only at detecting, but cleaning malware (without deleting "good" files due to false-positives). Steven Avery, who often comments on security software here, mentioned SuperAntiSpyware the other day. You need the professional version (not the free version), but the professional version has a fully functional 15-day free trial. Hopefully, it can not only block, but remove the malware. I agree with #47, Funkster, that an external drive generally won't preserve your GOTD programs for use after reinstalling Windows, or on another system.

#46, jlhvcc, I use Blue Project SysTracer Pro. You have to pay for it, but a cheaper home license is available. It's much faster and has far more features than the freeware alternatives. It's not perfect, as with all such products, there are some occasional bugs (I'll get on their case). NirSoft has all sorts of freeware utilities, RegDLLView is good for tracking changes to registered DLL's (you can use the open-source WinMerge for comparing reports). Even Microsoft Sysinternals AutoRuns now reports installed codecs (you'll see them in SysTracer Pro, but AutoRuns lists them all, although without much information).

Thanks, #48, Chaotic, also from Safe'n'Sec the other day, #51, john, for the kind words. I especially liked the fact that john said that he merely used my comments as additional information, I'm always trying to get people to use their brains, rather than basing their decision solely upon someone else's.

Thank you so very much Funkster #47!! Yes, I am not trying to reinstall anything, I just want to be able to use the external drive again without reactivating the virus which seemed to happen everytime I plugged it into my pc.

Oh, I so appreciate your response! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!! :)

I don't understand why comments about Bill Gates are found in a site that offers free software! On second thought maybe I do: it's human nature to be envious and jealous of people who are richer, more intelligent, more influential and more powerful than you.

While reviewing alternative programs, I found some helpful information at this site regarding erasing:
WARNING: ''If you defragment a drive first and then do a freespace erase after, you may find traces of an erased file because the original file is potentially moved all over the disk. The current copy is erased but a forensic scan of the drive may locate parts of the file where it was being moved around during the defragmentation ... In addition to never defragmenting your drive before erasing you should run chkdsk / scandisk to recover any lost clusters and erase those first.'' - Heidi Computers Ltd.

So don't defragment your hard drive before erasing your data. Erase the files and especially the free space first. And don't empty your recycle bin. Securely erase it's contents instead with erasing software.

Why is it that on days when a collection of relevant, thoughtful comments would be most helpful, we're subjected to a battle of the egos featuring people who have no business using a computer in the first place? This morning, as usual, it involves the most misguided, ill-informed "expert" to haunt this section, Fubar, pitted against a couple of kids who insist on egging him on.
What is this self-pitying rant about Fubar-haters doing here in the first place? A whining tirade against those who resort to name calling that then labels people who don't see things his way "uneducated children", and bemoans the fact that he's getting "voted down". Petulant approval-starved child! I'd ask how all of you find the time to spend in this column, but I'm sure you'd claim to be CEO's of Silicon Valley companies who can afford to do as they please, and not a gaggle of pasty 20-somethings spewing venom from the murky shadows of their parent's basement.
Ironically, this is probably the comment that won't make the cut, but this needed to be said. Put aside your petty ego wars! None of you can live up to your own self-hype, anyway. Give this section back to those who are looking for input concerning the GOTD program, and those who are here to offer that input.

#41, Fubar. Being dead or alive is completely besides the point. I know what Bill Gate's position is in Microsoft but being a 'Project Manager' and a 'Programmer' for a project is completely different, you should know this. Who are you to judge who is a competent programmer? Are you saying you are a better programmer then Bill Gates and have the ability to say he is a bad programmer?

The so called 'Fubar-Haters' you speak of must hate you for a reason, maybe it's because you're talking like you think you know everything and speak as if you are some sort of programming guru. And the fact that you've now called them 'uneducated children' isn't going to help one bit.

You obviously don't know your facts as pointed out by Steve #37. I suggest changing to a different colledge or uni or whatever you go to for this so called 'education' that you claim to have because they don't know a thing about what they are teaching their students.

And serious... look at you, you are here looking for free software to put on your Windows PC! ... Grow-up! Stop whining about how everything is Bill Gate's fault when you clearly have chosen to use his OS.
------------

Thank GAOTD! It seems some people don't appreciate that fact that you are giving away software and ask nothing in return.

Thank you Fubar, I always look for your comments as you seem to know much more about PC's and software than I do.
I whish more people would read was has been written instead of commenting on what they thought it meant.
Me too will pass on todays giveaway because I have winUtills to do it.

@tracy, #39: A few things -
First of all storing GAotD-software on an external disk doesn't make much sense. Either you stored the entire GAotD-download which will not work after the giveaway-date or you installed on the external disk in which case you can only use the installed programs together with the pc you used for installing it. This is because the registry is needed in installations and that is not located on that external disk. The only exception is when the GAotD was portable (only occasional). So you might not want to bother recovering it at all when it was reserved for GAotD only.

Secondly when you do want to recover or at least want to reformat the external drive to have the use of that external disk back the problem is when you connect your pc is going to be infected or when you do not connect you cannot do anything with the external drive, right?

In that case consider downloading Returnil first:
http://download.cnet.com/Returnil-Virtual-System-2008-Personal-Edition/3000-2239_4-10704691.html
The home version is free and will do for what you want.

Connect the external disk only after going in Returnil's protection mode to get access to your external disk and reformat it (or when really necessary try to recover what you want, but be aware not to recover infected stuff). disconnect and reboot. You'r pc is not infected because of the reboot out of protection mode and your external harddisk is ready for use (reformatted).

#5, Fubar, you mention that yesterday's program messes up VB registry entries, and infer that today's program may do that also, the question is, can you recommend a good installation monitoring program that would show me what files/registry entries a program being installed is changing, if that makes sense to you, thanks!

CCLEANER have the capability to overwrite any file up to 35 times, which will effectively prevent recovery. And it is free, easy to use,
great interface.

Tolvanen's Eraser (http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/) wipes to various standards, from 1-pass to 35-pass, and is Open Source, and very easy to use, integrating directly into Windoze Explorer. Why pay for a likely inferior product with closed source so you can't be really sure of its efficacy?

#37, Steve, I never said that Bill Gates invented BASIC. Re-read my comment, I said that BASIC was already obsolete at the time when Bill Gates was writing his interpreters. Writing BASIC interpreters, as you posted, is how Bill Gates started in business, it's always been a favorite of his, and he has included it in some form throughout Microsoft's product line. Your own comment doesn't say anything about today's offering, which my very first post did. The rest of you have been keeping this going. Subject closed.

There is a very good reason to use a secure deletion program. Most banks (credit card companies, phone services, utilities, etc.) now send electronic documents/statements to their members so they don't have to pay for postage. They claim it is to save the environment but it is simple economics. Once you have downloaded you statements and archived them somewhere other than your hard drive it makes since to securely remove them. Just a thought.

#34, Rick Siegert, while that's possible, it seems unlikely. I still can't get to Heidi's website, but I've viewed many pages via Google's cache, and the homepage cache was from this Monday. All of the pages indicated ongoing development of Eraser. Eraser 5.8.7 was released two weeks ago, on the 11th. The Eraser 6 Release Candidate was released on the 10th. This is an open-source project, so development doesn't terminate as long as someone is willing to work on it. There was work submitted on Eraser 6 six days ago. An annoyance is that compiled (built) binaries aren't posted for the Eraser 6 Release Candidate on SourceForge.

In addition to the CNET link which #10, Bob Dole, provided, you can download Eraser 5.8.7 from SourceForge. On Vista, it should be run as an administrator. As I've stated previously, the safest way to do that is via the shortcut, not the program compatibility. Eraser can be password-protected. Also, as I've stated previously, you can use the UAC Tool from Norton Labs and train it to handle many UAC prompts without user intervention. If you've been using TweakUAC, restore full UAC before installing UAC Tool.

It hasn't escaped my attention that the Fubar-haters, all of whom appear to be uneducated children, have been putting down their video games long enough to engage in name-calling, since none of them seems to have the education and intellectual capacity to put forth a rational argument. It amuses me that the Fubar-haters vote down my comment #15, while voting up the surrounding comments #10, Bob Dole, and #16, Nobody, which link to one of the same products. As near as I can tell, they're saying, "I don't know anything, I don't understand anything Fubar says, therefor I'm going to accuse Fubar of not knowing anything." And the others say, "Yeah, I don't know anything either, so I'll vote up the insults." Until one of you actually manages to put together a coherent, rational argument, I'm not even going to bother with you anymore, it's not worth my time. #21, Morlan, I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but Henry Ford died a long time ago. Bill Gates is still Chairman of Microsoft, and while he doesn't handle day-to-day running of the company, it's still very much his company, he's still in control, he still controls the direction of Microsoft (i.e., software development) and knows everything that they do. Yes, he himself realized that he had exceeded his level of programming competence long ago (not that he was ever a competent programmer), but ultimately the architecture of Windows is what he wants it to be.

Hmmmm .... the program description is mostly correct, but there is one other way to "securely delete a file."

Take a sledgehammer to the hard drive! :-)

I have an external storage drive that got a virus in it and crashed my pc. When I finally got my pc up and running, everytime I would plug the external SD back in, my pc would get the virus back. Does anyone know how I can fix this so I can use it? The main purpose for that storage drive was for GAOTD offers so that I could remain using programs downloaded from here even if I had to reboot or bought a new pc. That's the main reason I'm asking here so sorry if it's not totally on topic. I've given many good reviews in the past so a little help would be totally appreciated. Thanks!!