Monday, September 9, 2002		Downloads

Online shredder and media file converter
Raman Mohan

NOWDAYS computer users face two main problems. The first is confidentiality of deleted data and the second is conversion of live or pre-recorded audio and video to Windows Media Format so you can play these on the Windows Media Player. This fortnight we feature two freeware, which solve both these problems. While one shreds files like a normal office paper shredder and making these irrecoverable, the other converts several media format files to WMF. The Windows Media Encoder could not have come from a better source. Its from Microsoft itself and believe it or not this too is a freeware.

If you have confidential data and you want to destroy it beyond recovery to prevent hackers or unauthorised persons from restoring it, the worst thing you can do is to delete it using the operating system (Windows). Normal deletion is not secure. Why? Because when you delete a file, the operating system does not destroy the file contents from the disk - it only deletes some 'references' on the file from some system tables. The file contents remains on disk until another file 'happens' to overwrite it. Any software recovery tool can restore the data if it hasn't been overwritten yet. Hardware recovery tools may even restore overwritten files by analysing latent magnetic traces. Let's suppose you have a file that contains sensitive information and you want to get rid of it. You can't delete it because its contents remain on disk, becoming an easy target for any hacker with a simple disk tool utility. East-Tec File Shredder is designed to shred (destroy) files beyond recovery. It will overwrite the original file contents, name and other information, and then remove (delete) the file from disk. To shred files using East-Tec File Shredder, you can use one of the following methods. To shred directly from Explorer or any other file manager, select one or more files, right-click and select East-Tec File Shredder. In the second method you can drag and drop one or more files over the East-Tec File Shredder icon on your desktop. In the classic way you can run East-Tec File Shredder by clicking its icon on your desktop or from the Start Menu and then drag one or more files and drop them on the program. It is available at www.east-tec.com

Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 7.1 is an easy-to-use, powerful production tool for converting both live and pre-recorded audio and video to Windows Media Format. With Windows Media Encoder, you can deliver live content in real time to client computers or to a file for later use. Real-time sources of audio and video content include anything that you can plug into your audio or video card, including a CD player, microphone, VCR, video camera, or video player. Stored sources are audio or video files. Users can view encoded Windows Media-based content with Microsoft Windows Media Player or with any application built using the Windows Media Format 7.1 Software Development Kit (SDK). Windows Media Encoder 7.1 has been completely redesigned to include enhancements that are both powerful and easy to use. This section summarises the enhancements made in this release. It has several new features. A new graphical user interface makes it easier for you to produce Windows Media-based audio and video content, both for live and on-demand viewing. The New Session Wizard and profile manager tools help you to set up an encoding session quickly and to create encoding profiles, which you can transfer to other computers that you use for encoding. The visual feedback was improved to provide pre-encode and post-encode views of your content. You can also monitor real-time encoding statistics right from the encoder main window. Finally, the ability to switch between input sources, such as between a main speaker and intermission video, was added, providing you with greater control over the production of live events. You can download it from: www.microsoft.com