Piriform’s CCleaner software has reached a new version: 2.15.815.

Beside minor bug fixes and a few changes, there’s a new and very interesting feature. CCleaner now has a command-line switch which enables secure deletion of certain files or folders. To use it, open a command prompt window in CCleaner’s install directory and run:

(1) ccleaner.exe /delete FILENAME.EXT - to secure delete a single file
(2) ccleaner.exe /delete FOLDER - to secure delete a folder
(3) use wildcards such as * and ? to delete multiple files or folders: ccleaner.exe /delete *.txt - to delete all txt files in the current folder

After the command is ran, CCleaner will ask for confirmation that you really wish to remove the files or folders then proceed to securely deleting them.

Note: file or folder names that contain spaces should be enclosed in double quotes (eg: “file name with spaces.txt”)

Update: I have created a simple script that enables secure delete via drag and drop with CCleaner.

WinRAR finally made the big step and went portable! The announcement came today via a press release and is currently featured on the official site of WinRAR but not RarLab.

The version number for WinRAR Unplugged is 3.62 despite the latest WinRAR for Windows version being 3.70 Beta 4.

As with all portable software, WinRAR Unplugged can be installed on any removable storage device (USB Stick, Memory card, External HDD) and then can be used on any computer that device is connected to.

Something worth of note: existing WinRAR licenses can be used with Unplugged, a new one is not required (GG, win.rar!).

Install is actually too big of a word, since the process consists of simply uncompressing the contents of the WinRAR Unplugged kit on the storage device of your choice. The easiest way to do this is download the self-extracting kit, copy it to the storage device, run it and watch as it unpacks itself in that location. Alternatively, you can save it on your internal HDD, run it and point it to unpack the contents on the external storage device.

After the “installation” is complete, all you need to do is go to the “WinRAR Unplugged” folder and double click the “Launch WinRAR.exe” file. This will start the WinRAR Unplugged Launcher, which stays in the systray and allows you to start the actual program. The launcher stays around even if you close WinRAR, you need to manually close it by right clicking on the systray icon and choosing “Exit”.

One thing you should be warned about is you should never ever disconnect the device that contains WinRAR Unplugged while the program or the launcher is still running, as doing so may cause data loss on that device or even (rarely) hardware damage.