BleachBit

BleachBit was first publicly released on 24 December 2008 for Linux systems.[3] The 0.2.1 release created some controversy[4] by suggesting Linux needed a registry cleaner.

Version 0.4.0 introduced CleanerML,[5] a standards-based markup language for writing new cleaners. On May 29, 2009, BleachBit version 0.5.0 added support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.[6] On September 16, 2009, version 0.6.4 introduced command-line interface support.[7]

BleachBit is available for download through its website and the repositories of many Linux distributions.

• Identifying and removing Web cache, HTTP cookies, URL history, temporary files log files and Flash cookies for Firefox, Opera, Safari, APT, Google Chrome
• Removing unused localizations (also called locale files) which are translations of software
• Shredding files and wiping unallocated disk space to minimize data remanence
• Wiping unallocated disk space to improve data compression ratio for disk image backups
• Vacuuming Firefox's SQLite database which suffers fragmentation
• Command line interface for scripting automation and headless operation

BleachBit is written in the Python programming language and uses PyGTK.

Most of BleachBit's cleaners are written in CleanerML,[8] an open standard XML-based markup language for writing cleaners.[9] CleanerML deals not only with deleting files, but also executes more specialized actions, such as vacuuming an SQLite database (used, for example, to clean Yum).

BleachBit's file shredder uses only a single, "secure" pass[10] because its developers believe that there is a lack of evidence that multiple passes, such as the 35-pass Gutmann method, are more effective. They also assert that multiple passes are significantly slower and may give the user a false sense of security by overshadowing other ways in which privacy may be compromised.[11]

In August 2016, Republican U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy announced that he had seen notes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), taken during an investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, that stated that her staff had used BleachBit in order to delete tens of thousands of emails on her private server.[12][13] Subsequently, then presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed Clinton had “acid washed” and “bleached” her emails, calling it “an expensive process.”[14]

After the announcement, BleachBit's company website reportedly received increased traffic.[15][16] In October 2016, the FBI released edited documents from their Clinton email investigation.[17]

• AVG PC TuneUp
• Desktop Cleanup Wizard
• Disk Cleanup
• Eraser (software)
• CCleaner
• Norton Utilities

• Official website
• Review by Downloadsquad (June 9, 2009)
• Review by SoftPedia (September 16, 2009)
• Review by CNET (January 19, 2011)