TopTenREVIEWS

TopTenREVIEWS - Gold Award - Awarded for excellence in design, useability and feature set

Window Washer from Webroot is excellent software brought to you by the company that produced the standard in antispyware software, Spy Sweeper.  They also produce many other valuable tools in the realm of computer maintenance programs.  When you open the program, you will see that the interface mirrors what you see in Spy Sweeper with some minor differences.  Using the same interface would backfire in most instances, but somehow it works in this program.  Webroot consolidated the list of items you can include in a scan to ensure they got the most important ones.  Also, you don't have to deal with traces from ancient, obsolete programs slowing your scan speed to a crawl.  When a particular program isn't installed, it's left out of the scan.

Standout Features

  • Protect passwords and private data
  • Improve system performance
  • Free U.S.-based support
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Ease of Use:   Excellent

As far as high functioning software goes, Window Washer is easy to use and operates without slowing down your computer.  Other programs monopolize your CPU memory, slowing your computer to a halt.  The scanning process in this program doesn't even last long enough to do that.  Plus, they customized the already user-friendly interface that was perfected in Spy Sweeper to suit the capabilities of this program. 

Privacy Effectiveness:   Excellent

You can choose for Window Washer to overwrite traces of your activity up to 100 times.  They call it "adding bleach to your wash," which is clever because bleach gets rid of everything in a laundry load, including things you don't want it to, such as the color in your newest shirt.  This program is already effective since it has the standard DoD 5220.22-M, NSA and Gutmann overwriting options (which overwrite your files 3, 7 and 35 times, respectively).  It's made even more effective with the option to overwrite your files 100 times.

Feature Set:   Excellent

One feature that's noticeably absent from Window Washer is the ability to shred files to the point where they're rendered unrecoverable.  This is a standard feature that's present in most privacy software and you would think its absence from this program would tarnish its ratings.  However, this program more than makes up for that absent feature with its Wash scan, Free Space Washing and System Eraser.  These features are so wildly effective that the fact the program doesn't have a file shredding option is irrelevant. 

A unique feature present in Window Washer that can't be found in other privacy software is the System Eraser option.  In this option, you create either a bootable floppy disk or CD, which allows you to make every bit of information on the hard drive unrecoverable.  It would be nice if they included an option for shredding individual files and folders, but this is a more thorough approach.  You could do this every three months or so and not have to worry about micromanaging the file shredding process.

Help/Documentation:   Excellent

Webroot offers free phone, email and Twitter support.  You can also pay extra for premium features, such as having an expert remotely access your PC and install, troubleshoot, remove viruses and spyware, optimize your settings to reduce the carbon footprint of your PC and tune up your PC.  We would like to see the other help features they have for their more prestigious programs (Internet Security Essentials, Antivirus with Spy Sweeper and Spy Sweeper) expanded to include Window Washer.  Other than that, they have some of the best customer service options in the industry.

Summary:  

Window Washer is one of the best pieces of privacy software you can find.  It might not have as many features as its competitors, but it doesn't need to.  It does a better job with what it has than most programs that have more.

 
TopTenREVIEWS
Privacy Software Review

Window Washer 2010

Publisher: Webroot Software
Version: 2010
Excellent
Overall Rating
Excellent
Ease of Use
Excellent
Privacy Effectiveness
Excellent
Feature Set
Excellent
Help/Documentation
Lowest Price:
$29.95
PUBLISHER
#1 of 21 Privacy Software Products
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Lowest Price:
$29.95
PUBLISHER

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