Ŀ
۲ -=-=-= CyberRax Programming =-=-=- ۳


                                  presents:



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                       V  E  R  S  I  O  N     1 . 0 3


Ŀ
 Introduction 


 NoiseWiper is a program to securely erase sensitive materials so permanently
 that it would be *absolutely* impossible to recover them.


Ŀ
 A little closer 


 When you delete something in DOS it's not really gone: the operating  system
 simply marks  the  corresponding disk area as not used.  That's it (not even
 the filename is destroyed, only it's first character).  Until something else
 is saved in that area your information will be present and can be  recovered
 with  undeletion  utilities (like DOS's own UnDelete) and disk editors (like
 Norton Disk Edit). This is good in case you deleted something  accidentally,
 but what if you *want* to get rid of something, and that for good?  Just for
 those cases  exists  a  class  of  programs  known  as wipers.  They work by
 overwriting the contents of file before deleting it.    And  that's  exactly
 what NoiseWiper does.


Ŀ
 Fore-story 


 There are dozens and dozens of overwriters, why the hell did I write another
 one?  I've tried many different wiping programs over the years, but they all
 had some  annoying  "features"  like  being big and/or slow.  Let's take for
 example those 4 I currently  have  on  my  harddrive  (besides  NoiseWiper):
 EmilSoft's  WIPEM  1.00 is nice, but can handle only drives, same applies to
 HUG-SL's DiscWash 1.1; I. Davidson's Scorch 1.03  is  fast  and  (basically)
 supports  DoD  wiping,  but  has  no  progress indicator; V. Kolhinen's & J.
 Hood's WIPE 2.06 is a real skyscraper when compared to the others: it's  got
 quick-, DoD, flux reversal wiping and many options, can wipe free space/file
 slack  and  supports extended wildcards, but is rather slow and doesn't show
 the progress indicator by files which are smaller than  1MB.  Also,  at  the
 time I began writing NoiseWiper I had only version 2.04 of WIPE which didn't
 have any  indicator.    That  was  the  actual  reason  for  me to code this
 utility.  My computer, namely, tends to go bonkers on me once in a while and
 I simply couldn't know whether WIPE's still doing it's job or if it  was  in
 heaven  (aka  crashed)  and  my HD's light continued working because it went
 insane.  So, that was the real reason.  Well,  that  and  Robert  Rothenburg
 Walking-Owl's NoiseSYS, which I like and have loaded, but whose services are
 used  only by PGP. Atleast now it's also used to generate random garbage for
 my wiper.


Ŀ
 Highlights 


 + uses flux reversal wiping
 + optional synchronimous wiping
 + quick-wipes file before going to main destruction loop
 + uses R. Walking-Owl's NoiseSYS as garbage generator if present
 + commits file and resets disk to make sure that written data really ends up
   on disk and not in some cache
 + sets the starting cluster of file to a false one
 + wipes file slack on most systems where the cluster size is a  multiple  of
   512 bytes (most HDs nowadays(?))
 + progress indicator
 + doesn't bother with prompts
 + won't be stopped by read-only/hidden/system attributes
 + quite small
 + doesn't delete if aborted (you can additionally use your favorite wiper(s)
   on the file)
 + runs (well, *should* run) on 286s
 + freeware


Ŀ
 Limitations 


 - not very fast
 - can't recurs through subdirectories
 - wipes only files
 - doesn't clean directory entries
 - can handle only 2222 files
 - not the best when wiping on compressed drives
 - supports only standard DOS wildcards


Ŀ
 Working 


 NoiseWiper works in  three  phases.    Phase one: file is quick-wiped.  This
 means the first kB of file is overwritten with garbage, next  32kB  will  be
 skipped and then again 1kB will be overwritten.  This will be repeated until
 the end of  file.    The  last  kB is always wiped.  This is pretty unsecure
 because most of your data will still be around, but  it's  good  to  quickly
 render archives and compressed/encrypted volumes practically useless.  Phase
 two:  file  will  be overwritten 35(!) times using the following overwriting
 values (given in hex):

      1.  Random          11. 11h     21. BBh             31. 6Dh B6h DBh
      2.  Random          12. 22h     22. CCh             32. B6h DBh 6Dh
      3.  55h             13. 33h     23. DDh             33. DBh 6Dh B6h
      4.  AAh             14. 44h     24. EEh             34. Random
      5.  Random          15. 55h     25. FFh             35. Random
      6.  92h 49h 24h     16. 66h     26. Random
      7.  49h 24h 92h     17. 77h     27. 92h 49h 24h
      8.  24h 92h 49h     18. 88h     28. 49h 24h 92h
      9.  Random          19. 99h     29. 24h 92h 49h
      10. 00h             20. AAh     30. Random

 This sequence, which conforms to the one proposed by Peter  Gutmann  in  his
 "Secure  Deletion  of  Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory", is called
 flux reversal wiping and should erase  the  magnetic  pattern  on  disk,  so
 recovery  would  be  impossible  even with the newest and most sophisticated
 methods.  Phase three: file's size will be  set  to  0  bytes  and  starting
 sector  to  0  so  disk  editors would have no chance what so ever; original
 date/time are messed up by setting them to 01.01.1980 00:00:00 (this can  be
 disabled);  a  random  name is generated and the file renamed to it; finally
 the file is deleted.  After every write a file commit is performed  to  make
 sure  that  DOS  empties  it's internal buffers to disk and a drive reset is
 done to force caches to write to disk everything they haven't written yet.


Ŀ
 Usage 


 Simple (it's strange, but all my programs are easy to use  :) :

                   NWIPER [switch1] files [switch2] [switch3] [...]

    file - one or more files to be wiped.  NoiseWiper supports  standard  DOS
           wildcards.   A  side  note:  the  first  character  of file string
           *mustn't* be minus or slash, those are reserved for switches.

 Switches are optional, *must* be preceded by minus (-) or slash (/) and they
 can be:

       V - verbose output.  Additionally to main screen the name  and  number
           of  file  are  shown,  exactly  like  the total amount of files to
           wipe.
       Y - synchronimous wiping of files.  This means that the  1st  file  is
           overwritten  once,  then the same happens to the 2nd file, then to
           3rd and so on.  When all files have been wiped  the  1st  file  is
           overwritten  a  second  time, the 2nd file too, the 3rd also, etc.
           That's slower and needs more  disk  space  than  non-synchronimous
           wiping,  but  is  useful  if you've got a lot of files and have to
           destroy them quickly.  By using  "/Y"  parameter  you  don't  have
           after  72  wipes  2  files  overwritten  36  times  but  36  files
           overwritten twice.  This is (to my knowledge) a unique feature.
       T - use timer for random garbage generation.   By  default  NoiseWiper
           will use  NoiseSYS  if  it's  present.    With this switch you can
           prohibit this.
       P - ask for conformation.  NoiseWiper  will  ask  once,  ONCE,  before
           wiping if  you are sure.  If you press "Y" or "ENTER" then all the
           specified  files  are  wiped,  by  "N"  or   "ESC"   the   program
           terminates.
       F - fully random  contents  for  writing buffer.  NoiseWiper fills the
           buffer by default in  the  following  way:  it  generates  2kB  of
           garbage  which  will be copied over and over into the buffer until
           it's full.  By "/F" switch the copying will  be  skipped  and  the
           randomness source  is  directly queried for 32kB of data.  This is
           mainly meant for compressed disks, but is much slower.
       Q - give no output what so ever, except error messages.
       K - keep original date/time of file.
       1 - for renaming generate a file name with only one letter.    If  you
           wipe  files  with NoiseWiper then, if checked with some undeletion
           utility, the directory is full of deleted  files  named  something
           like O9YNEHD7.Q2@ It does look suspicious and is a truly Bad Thing
           if  you  don't want the person looking to know that you're using a
           wiper.  A filename which  is  only  1  character  long  (and  that
           character has  been erased by DOS) doesn't look half as bad.  It's
           especially useful when used together  with  "/K".  I  do  have  to
           mention  that  the  filesize  will still be zero (exactly like the
           starting sector, if checked with a disk editor), so an experienced
           person might still figure out that a wiper has been working.
 NOERROR - no messages on errors.

 When no parameters are given then  the  help  screen  is  shown.    If  only
 filename  is  present then the main screen is presented which includes a bar
 and per cent indicator of wiping.

 By wiping you can press "N" to jump to next file or  "ESC"  for  cancelling.
 What  exactly  happens  by  "N"  depends  on whether or not you're wiping in
 synchronimous mode.  If not then your file is deleted without furder  wiping
 and the  program will step to next file.  If on the other hand synchronimous
 wiping is in action then "N" jumps to next file, but  the  cycle  is  simply
 pushed  forward and the wiping will occur later, in other words: the file is
 wiped 36 times, doesn't matter if you use "Next" or not.  But you can use it
 to wipe more than 36 times by big files.  Namely the "times  wiped"  counter
 is incremented  only when the whole file has been overwritten.  If you press
 "N" before that is true then the counter won't be incremented,  so  you  can
 wipe  the  bigger  part  of  file  even  thousand  times before the per cent
 indicator increases.  But as a single wipe's pretty fast then  you  probably
 won't manage to press the key before "flushing" on small files.
 If you're wiping in synchronimous mode then you have also the possibility of
 pressing "D",  by  which  all  files will be instantly deleted.  This is for
 cases when you're in a hurry and don't have the time to overwrite all  files
 36 times.  You can let NoiseWiper run for a couple of rounds and then delete
 files with a single keypress.

 BE VERY  CAREFUL  with  wiping.  There are exactly three situations when you
 can save something by an accidental wipe with NoiseWiper:
   a) you used "/P" switch and answer "N"
   b) you have a BIG file and quickly push "ESC"
   c) you have MANY files and push "ESC" as soon as you can
 In case 1 you have all your files  as  they  were  (because  no  wiping  was
 performed).  Case 2 ain't so happy: atleast part of your file is overwritten
 with garbage.  If this was a textfile then you might have something from the
 non-wiped parts.  By 3rd case some of your files have been damaged, but some
 might be orraid.  But only if you pressed "ESC". By "N", if in synchronimous
 mode,  the  next file will be wiped, else the file will be just deleted, but
 it's starting sector and name will be destroyed.  It is possible to retrieve
 the contents, but only if you're able to use a disk editor (or  an  advanced
 uneraser).  Never  less,  I still don't suggest it.  So, as already said: BE
 VERY CAREFUL!


Ŀ
 System requirements 


  MS-DOS 3.30 (or compatible)
  80286 or better processor
  64kB memory
  keyboard (optional, only to conform wiping)
  MDA (textmode) videocard/monitor (optional)
  additionally up to  32kB  free  space  on  disk  (per  wiped  file  if  in
   synchronimous mode)


Ŀ
 Tested 


 NoiseWiper has been successfully tested with following...

 ...CPUs:

    * Cyrix 486DLC/40MHz
    * AMD 486DX/100MHz
    * Intel Pentium MMX/233MHz
    * Intel Pentium II/400MHz

 ...operating systems:

    * MS-DOS 3.30,  4.01,  5.0,  5.02,  6.0,  6.20,  6.22, 7.0 (Win95), 7.10
             (Win98), 8.0 (WinME)
    * PC-DOS 3.30, 4.0, 6.1, 6.3, 7.0
    * DR-DOS 5.0, 6.0, 7.01 (OpenDOS), 7.03
    * Novell DOS 7
    * FreeDOS beta 4, beta 5, beta 6, beta 7
    * ROM-DOS 6.22, 7.01
    * RxDOS 7.1.5

 ...disk caches:

    * MultiSoft's PC-Kwik 1.07, 3.19
    * Central Point Software's PC-Cache 5.1, 9.0
    * Microsoft's SMARTDrive 4.2, 5.0, 5.01, 5.02
    * HyperWare's HyperDisk 4.65, 4.70, 4.75
    * Symantec's Norton Cache 6.01, 8.0
    * P. R. Gassel & Associates' QUICKCACHE II 4.20
    * Qualitas' QCache 4.00
    * V. V. Vlasov's COMBI-Disk 1.13
    * Caldera's NWCache 1.02
    * M. Pawski's I_CACHE 1.20
    * PhysTechSoft's PTSCache 1.18h
    * C&D Programming Corp's CacheAll 1.0e
    * H. Shoichi's DOS Concurrent Disk Cache 1.10

 ...multitaskers:

    * Microsoft's Windows 3.1, 98 SE
    * Quarterdeck Office Systems' DESQview 2.60, 2.80
    * Caldera's Task Manager 2.02, 2.03
    * Quarterdeck Office Systems' DESQview/X 2.0
    * S&H Computer Systems' TSX-Lite 4.21

 and NoiseSYS:

    * 0.4.9 beta
    * 0.5.5 beta
    * 0.5.6 beta
    * 0.6.1 beta
    * 0.6.3 beta


Ŀ
 Notes 


 I've taken my time and tested this program with most of the versions I  have
 of  MS-DOS (and it's clones), with many disk caches and several multitasker.
 But... I  could  have  tested  even  more:  some  more  caches,  other  CPUs
 (especially 286s, because the fact that it's NoiseWiper's minimum is claimed
 by  the  C--  compiler  and  it's quite possible that actually a 386 or even
 better is needed), some of the old multitaskers (like VMiX and MultiDos).  I
 can  only  hope  you  forgive me that I was too lazy to re-partition my main
 harddrive or open up the case of computer so I could get a 20MB disk into my
 PC (all caches I left out supported only partitions smaller  than  32MB)  or
 exchange the  motherboard  against  one that has a 286 or 386 processor.  Or
 that I didn't try too many different CPU-OS-cache combinations (several  OSs
 were simply started from a boot floppy without any other drivers at all).

 Drive  compression systems (like DoubleSpace, Stacker, DriveSpace, etc.) are
 a special case.  The problem is, that they pack the data  before  physically
 writing  it  to  drive, so 32kB data might end up on disk as, let's say, 1kB
 worth of stuff, thus not overwriting the whole file.  The best  solution  to
 the  problem  (besides  not  using  disk  compressors)  is to use for wiping
 completely random data which can't be packed.   But  here're  some  problems
 too:  it's impossible to know if the data is truly that random (you may have
 an excellent garbage generator in your program, but  the  environment  might
 differ  from  the one you expected or other issues might rise which make the
 generator less effective) and it's also not possible to predict  whether  or
 not  it's  compressible by some particular algorithm (although very unlikely
 you can't know for sure that nobody has a drive compressor which uses  ACB's
 or  RKIVE's  notoriously  slow  and memory hungry but unbelievably effective
 pack method which can shrink almost anything  :) Those  are  problems  which
 can't  be  solved,  one  just  has  to pray that the file will be completely
 wiped.  With NoiseWiper the things are even worse, because 75% of used  data
 is highly compressible.  The main idea behind "/F" switch was to make even a
 little bit  up  for the lack of compressed disks support.  With "/F" you get
 32kB of quite non-compressible garbage for the 25% of wipes  which  use  it.
 For  a  figure: 32kB of garbage generated without "/F" switch was compressed
 to 2002 bytes by RAR 2.50 (that goes for the data itself, the archive was of
 course a little bigger), 64kB was packed to 2260 bytes; in case of "/F"  the
 32kB  couldn't be packed, 64kB was compressed to 32kB. So, the "/F" seems to
 have some effect.  But in case you *really* have to use some  disk  doubling
 software  I  recommend  that you make use of some other wiper which has been
 customized for this situation (like I. Davidson's Scorch) or  wipe,  instead
 of single files, the whole compressed volume.

 Multitaskers are  another special case.  Namely, while NoiseWiper is working
 in one task or window the others become painfully slow.  That's because  the
 wiper performs  very  intensive  disk  writing.   While I managed to set the
 foreground/background ratio in TSX-Lite and  DESQview  so  that  the  wiping
 wouldn't disturb other tasks too much I failed to achieve this in DESQview/X
 (the  wiping itself was OK, but everything stopped by the flushing, although
 I have to mention that this might have been related to the fact that a  disk
 cache  was  loaded)  and Windows (3.1 wasn't too horrible, but 98 was simply
 unusable).  Dv/X can be perhaps tweaked until it works, but as Windoom lacks
 the simple low-level setup that DESQview has  and  because  there  are  such
 horrible things (from the security viewpoint) as a swap file by Win (ok, ok,
 DESQview  has it too, but it can be placed in EMS) then I didn't include any
 special code to handle the problem nor did any  other  attempts  to  promote
 wiping under WinCloset.

 The program  supports  up  to  2222 files.  Originally, when that number was
 999, the limitation existed because I reserved room for 3 numbers on  screen
 at the "xxx  of  xxx"  text.  Well, that was almost an eternity ago.  By now
 I've found a more serious reason, which makes 2222 most likely  the  biggest
 number  this  utility  will  ever  handle:  the  64kB  limit  of COM format.
 Currently the code is about 3,8KB long, another 2,8kB goes to the data (like
 the helpscreen) and about 430 bytes to used variables.  Not so  bad,  right?
 But there's also  that  32kB  writing buffer.  What does it leave us?  About
 25kB. Seems enough?  Well, for every file I save 11  bytes  of  information.
 2222 * 11  =  24442. Whush!  Gone is our free space...  So, unless M. Sheker
 includes in the C-- compiler support for real  mode  EXE  models  which  can
 handle  more  than  64kB of data or I for some odd reason am willing to mess
 with using a second segment or partial handling (ie first 2222  files  would
 be  wiped  and  then  the  next  bunch  is  handled)  this  number  won't be
 increased.

 NoiseWiper can by design handle files up to 2147450880 bytes (32kB less than
 2GB). I think that's  enough  for  everyone  (DOS  should  support  (atleast
 theoretically) file sizes up to 4GB).

 This wiper hasn't been tested with other Windows versions than 3.1 and 98SE,
 but it should work without problems.  The only shortcomings:
   a) WindBlows  95+  tends  to cache on many levels so I'm not sure how many
      writes of those 36 actually end up on disk (even  with  disk  resetting
      and  in  a  DOS  box,  although  the drive's light was actively working
      during the flushing on the tested Windoza 98 machine)
   b) NoiseWiper doesn't support long file names
   c) There's the above mentioned problem with multitaskers

 The support for hiding the fact that something has been wiped is minimal.  I
 think that the best way to hide is to use  some  program  which  cleans  the
 directory entries.    As this would require some low-level code (about which
 I'm not sure that it's very compatible  with  WinCrash)  and  as  there  are
 already such cool wipers like WIPEM which do exactly this (and that fast and
 well)  then  I  don't  think  there's  much  reason  to  add  such  code  to
 NoiseWiper.


Ŀ
 Technical about NWIPER.COM 


 > Written in SPHINX/Sheker C-- and compiled with 0.238.final
 > Norton Commander Editor (NCEdit, not Norton Editor), MS-DOS Editor 2.0.026
   and QEdit Advanced 3.00C SW were used for writing
 > Super Tracer 2.03 and Turbo Debug 5.0 were used for debugging
 > Hacker's View 6.16 was used for examining the code
 > Lot of material from Interrupt List R61, HelpPC 2.10 and Tech Help!   4.0a
   was used
 > Source's size is 43494 bytes (it's fully commented, that's why)
 > It has 1405 lines
 > Executable is packed with aPACK 0.99b
 > A  HUGE  amount  of  coffee,  electricity, cheese sandwiches, TV shows and
   hours which I could have  filled  with  sleeping  were  spent  during  the
   coding.


Ŀ
 History 


 Version 1.00 released on October 8th, 2001

   * initial release
   * CrCheck might report that NWIPER.COM has been changed.  This is my fault
     and  if  it  does  occur then know that it's related only to the missing
     read-only attribute and the error can be eliminated by setting it to the
     executable

 Version 1.01 released on October 17th, 2001

   * added /Q and /1 switches
   * optimized several parts of the code
   * dropped the protection scheme (it did cause some slight problems)

 Version 1.02 released on December 1st, 2001

   * added support for instant deletion of files in synchro mode with key "D"
   * optimized several parts of the code
   * added /K switch
   * fixed a bug which had the effect that NoiseWiper's display was messed up
     if cursor was originally in the upper part of screen
   * NoiseSYS is now invoked  through  IOCTL  calls  rather  than  API.  This
     ensures  that  older  (which didn't support the API) and modified (which
     use for example another interrupt for communication) versions  of  Noise
     should work
   * tested with all kind of different DOSs and disk caches
   * added  support  for  NoiseSYS  versions prior to 0.5.7 (which use device
     name URANDOM instead of URANDOM$)
   * the program should exit under DOS 1.x without crashing (previously  exit
     was performed in a way which wasn't available by DOS 1)
   * minus can be used instead of slash by switches
   * now  additionally  to  backslash  also  slash  can  be used as directory
     separator
   * the wiper will besides reading  also  write  some  garbage  to  URANDOM$
     device to enhance the randomness

 Version 1.03 released on April 12th, 2002

   * slightly optimized some parts of the code
   * filename doesn't  have to be the first parameter any more.  This feature
     does however introduce some cut offs like that...
     ...the first character of filename can't be "/" nor "-"
     ...minus or slash is now *required* to recognize switches
   * SYS has been added to the list of extensions which shouldn't be  created
     for renaming
   * increased the number of handled files to 2222
   * considerably speeded up the wiping in FIRST phase if "/F" was specified
   * added "/?" and "-?" additionally to "?" for showing the helpscreen
   * slightly re-arranged the wiping pattern
   * the program now checks for the appropriate CPU
   * removed the writing to URANDOM$ because...
     ...NoiseSYS 0.6.1 doesn't support this without re-compiling
     ...it provides virtually no randomness what so ever
   * keys  "ESC"  and  "N" work also when all files are being deleted through
     "D" in synchro mode


Ŀ
 Future 


 I know, I've said this about like...  every version, but this program  truly
 is ready  now.    Just  take  a look at the changes in this release - no new
 features, only minor technical modifications.  That's mainly  because  there
 simply *aren't*  any  features  which  would be very desirable.  And there's
 also basically nothing I could furder optimize.  So, it's not likely that  I
 update  NoiseWiper  in  near  future,  if ever (yeah, I know, I've said that
 before too  :) But... if for some unknown reason I'm in a  mood  for  coding
 and  have  no  newer/better  and/or  more  interesting/promising/bla/bla/bla
 project going then I might, just *might*, add the following features:

    + handling of sub-directories (promised since the very first version  and
      the  most  missed thing, but there are alternatives like using SWEEP or
      4DOS's  internal  GLOBAL  to  execute  NoiseWiper  in  subdirectories),
      although there is the problem with that 64kB limit
    + generetic support for random number sources, which means that other RNG
      devices than NoiseSYS and even user specified files can be used
    + support  for  LFNs  (long  file  names)  under  WinBoose. I do consider
      Winboop being one of the worst things  ever  developed,  but  it  seems
      every  DOS  program supports LFNs nowadays and besides, it shouldn't be
      too hard (just  some  calls  to  the  appropriate  interrupt  routine),
      right?

 PS! if  anyone's interested in the source (that assumes you know how to code
     in C--, something that can't be said about every man): it's available on
     M.  Sheker's  homepage  (http://sheker.chat.ru/)  and  (hopefully)  it's
     mirrors (don't recall the URL of any of them right now, sorry...)


Ŀ
 Greets 


 Today's greets fly to:

 Robert Rothenburg Walking-Owl  -  after  all,  part  of this wiper's name is
                                   borrowed from your NoiseSYS
 Vesa Kolhinen & Jason Hood     -  authors of WIPE, one of the coolest wipers
                                   there is.  I got the idea  for  quick  and
                                   flux reversal wiping and the code for file
                                   commit  and wiping of date/time/size/start
                                   sector from your wiper.  So,  to  take  it
                                   together,   NoiseWiper   is   basically  a
                                   re-written and simplified version of  your
                                   WIPE.   Thus   you  guys  deserve  another
                                   greeting,  or  perhaps  a  hip-hip-hooray!
                                   even   :) Also another thanks to Jason for
                                   pointing me to a newer version of WIPE
 van Hauser / THC               -  I got some ideas for optimization from the
                                   source of your Secure  Delete  1.4  (which
                                   also implements flux reversal wiping)
 Nowhere Man/(original) [NuKE]  -  his WIPE from the Nowhere Utilities was my
                                   first wiping program
 Iolo Davidson                  -  the  idea to use a 32kB buffer for writing
                                   is from his Scorch
 Mishel Sheker                  -  for the on going development of C--
 Valmii / tKD                   -  just like that :)
 Jibz                           -  gotta salute him because of the greet-ware
                                   license, but aPACK's certainly  worth  it.
                                   BTW,  are  any new version's on the way or
                                   have you ended the development?
 Liu TaoTao                     -  TR's a religion, man!
 Sen                            -  HIEW is FAR more than just a hexeditor
 Ralf Brown                     -  for IntList
 David Jurgens                  -  HelpPC freakin' rocks, dude!
 Dan Rollins                    -  Tech Help's old but still useful
 Ralph Roth / ROSE SWE          -  his RoseGoat 2.12  was  used  to  generate
                                   test  files  for  wiping  (seems  I  found
                                   another  purpose  than  viruses/scramblers
                                   for your program  :)
 Douglas Boling                 -  I  got  some  of  the code for the initial
                                   bugfix from his CALC
 JRD                            -  whose NRO has been used by the last couple
                                   of versions to format this documentation
 Richard L. Green               -  for  including   this   utility   in   his
                                   excellent  "Free  Software  for  DOS" site
                                   (http://members.cox.net/dos)
 HUG-SL, EmilSoft, I. Davidson  -  the others whose wiper I  consider  worthy
                                   enough to waste space on my HD  :)
 Farin Urlaub                   -  for  his  awesome songs "Sumisu" and "OK",
                                   not to mention all the stuff he's  written
                                   for Die Aerzte over the years


Ŀ
 Validating 


 To  check  if  all files in this archive are OK store my public PGP key into
 your public-key-file (PGPK -a CYBERRAX.SIG), validate  CRCHECK.CRC  (PGP  -v
 CRCHECK.CRC)  and then execute ROSE SWE's CrCheck (I know, I know, MD5SUM is
 free, more secure  and  comes  with  PGP  (atleast  it  came  with  the  2.x
 versions), but CrCheck is faster and I happen to like it).


Ŀ
 End-story 


 Some  thoughts  why  you  should use NoiseWiper. The main advantages of this
 wiper over others are the high security and synchronimous wiping.  Like  mr.
 Davidson  explained  in  Scorch's  documentation,  in  practice  it's almost
 impossible to recover even data which has  been  overwritten  once,  so  the
 security  issue  is important only to cypherpunks like myself who are almost
 paranoiac about their privacy.  Synchronimous wiping mode might be useful if
 you have many files and want to wipe them as permanently as  possible  in  a
 short  period  of  time,  like  at the end of a work day during the time you
 clean up your desk.  On the day you were fired, that is  :) You  would  have
 to use a wiper which can be instructed to not delete the files and you would
 have  to  generate  batch  files  which  execute  the wiper for every wiping
 cycle.  Well, it doesn't have to be that difficult, you  just  have  to  use
 NoiseWiper in synchronimous mode, let it wipe, and press "D" if you leave to
 delete everything.


Ŀ
 Closing 


 So, we  have  come to the end.  If you have any suggestions, thoughts or bug
 reports, you want to point out some spelling error or just want to  say  how
 much you love this program (yeah, right) then feel free to mail me at

                              cyberrax@yahoo.com



                                   CyberRax
                                the Hacking One
                                      of
                      -=-=-= CyberRax Programming =-=-=-

                             "one mean cypherpunk"

                                April 12th, 2002
                    Tootsi, Parnu County, Estonia, Europe
