Lab

Internet privacy software

Every time you go on the Net, your PC creates folders full of files that will tell anyone who knows where to look exactly what sites you visited, what pages you looked at, what pictures you downloaded, and a lot more. Looking through other trace files on your PC, a passably knowledgeable snooper can also see what documents you've been using, what information you've entered into Web forms and lots of other compromising personal information.

You may not think you've got anything to hide, but how much do you want other people to know about you. Your name? Your name and where you live? Your name, where you live and your credit card details?

Identity theft is a growing concern, both to financial institutions and private individuals - and while privacy software can't remove the threat that a hacker may tap into your bank's central records, it can help you tackle the most insecure link in the chain: your home PC. Using details that can be dredged up from an old hard disk if your dump or sell your PC, a criminal can piece together a passable impression of you over the Net - and use it to gain credit or other services. Privacy software can help you prevent this from happening.

This month, Computer Buyer has tested five of the best-known Net and PC security programs to find out which ones you can trust with the safety of your PC, your identity and your family's privacy.

WHY DO I NEED PRIVACY SOFTWARE?

When you finish surfing the Web, you probably forget most of the sites you've visited very quickly. But your PC doesn't. Everything you've looked at, every Web site you've visited and everything you've done online is recorded and logged in a trail of files your browser creates each time you use it. These records include Web addresses (URLs) you may never have typed into your browser yourself, but which you were taken to by pop-up windows or automated scripts.

Worse still, you don't have to be a hacker to discover this information. Anyone could stumble across it if they accidentally open your browser's history list - something that's very easily done.

That's not all your browser remembers, either. Internet Explorer's built-in search function remembers and will display things that you've searched for in the past. And that's not all you need to worry about. Search engines, for instance Google or MSN Search, retain a list of all the things you've searched for in the past few weeks.

Many Web sites also write small text files called 'cookies' to your hard disk. While they are harmless, cookies can tell someone a lot about what you've been doing online. As well as revealing which site's you've visited, they may also include log-on details which will allow others to gain access to commercial Web sites in your name.

If you have the Auto Complete feature turned on in Internet Explorer, they may also be able to gain access to secure areas of a Web site that the cookie itself won't let them into. How would you feel about someone being able to see everything you've ordered from an online shop, including the address each item was sent to? If you've ordered gifts online, this will provide potential burglars with the names and addresses of all your family and close friends.

Some of the compromising features can be turned off in your Internet browser. You can, for instance, go to Tools and then Internet Options in Internet Explorer and tell the browser not to record any of the Web addresses you visit. You can also tell Internet Explorer to delete all the temporary Internet files, photos and html files, and cookies that it's storing for you.

Unfortunately, when you delete a file in Windows, it's not erased from your hard disk. Your operating system simply removes the visual representation of the file from your PC and marks the space the files occupies on your hard disk for reuse. Until that file is overwritten, anyone with some £10 recovery software can undelete it. And if you tell your browser not to accept any cookies then you will find that some Web sites - including many Internet banking sites - won't work.

You're far better off using Internet privacy software that will clean up your tracks on the Net as you go. Not only is it far simpler than trying to achieve the same effect manually, it's also far more thorough than you could ever be. These programs even delete the almost indestructible index.dat files which record every Web site you've ever visited and which are impossible to get rid of otherwise.

WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR?

The first thing to look for when you buy Internet privacy software is ease of use. If a piece of software is so complicated that you can't find the option you need, or you can't figure out whether or not you've erased a particular item properly, then your PC will still be at risk - no matter how good the software might otherwise be. All the tools within the program should be easily accessible from a single central screen, and every tool should be sensibly labelled and explained so you know how to use it and what to use it for.

There are several types of privacy software. Some programs specialise in hiding your IP address - your PC's unique online identifier - and other information so that snoopers and conmen can't trace and identify you over the Web.

Other programs specialise in deleting all the traces left behind each time you visit a Web page. This type of software knows exactly where to look to find all the files that your browser creates. It's also able to securely overwrite those files so that commercially available undelete software can't, or shouldn't be able to, recover them.

Secure deletion programs like this should also be able to erase any file, or number of files, that you pick out manually. Finally, as well as deleting the traces of your browser activity, secure deletion programs should also be able to remove the traces of your activity from other programs such as Windows Media Player and Real Player. The software should also be able to clear your Windows search function records, which might give useful information to a snooper. Finally, it should be able to overwrite the index.dat file, removing an otherwise undeletable record of all the Web sites you've ever visited.

To get complete security, you can either buy both types of program, or buy a piece of software that combines both functions in one. Whatever program you buy, it must be able to do what it claims to do, otherwise you'll still be insecure - but with the added disadvantage that you'll think you're as safe as houses.

BUYING DECISIONS

Two programs stood out from the rest in our tests. CyberScrub's Privacy Suite is simple secure-deletion software, but it has lots of useful features, It's relatively easy to use and erased our test data beyond our ability to recover it. The top slot has to go to Tenebril's Ghostsurf. Ghostsurf is easy to use, can securely delete your files and hide your identity online. It also comes with anti-spyware and a decent ad blocker. At £35 Ghostsurf isn't the cheapest program on test, but it does its job well and packs in lots of useful features.