Evidence Eliminator EMail Cleaning Options

This section allows you to securely destroy stored history of your e-mail activities under IE5 or Netscape 3-4.

Outlook Express v5

New for Evidence Eliminator v5 is full control over the database files stored by Outlook Express v5.

At the top of this option, the function can be switched on or off, and the storage folder is selected. This folder normally lives on a long and strange folder path which is now auto-detected when Evidence Eliminator starts for the first time. If you change your Outlook Express settings, an "Auto" button is provided to re-detect the location automatically. On fresh Windows installations, the "Auto" button will not work until you have set up an e-mail account in Outlook Express.

Two windows are provided listing database files. The upper window lists all database files currently kept by Outlook Express. Select an item in the upper list and press "Add" to add it to the lower window - the "Keep List".

When you run Evidence Eliminator, it will delete everything in Outlook Express except those items on the lower Keep List. 

The default settings may be restored with the "Restore Defaults" button. The defaults keep Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent and Deleted items.

Most database file names will appear self-explanatory for the various mail folders and newsgroups which you use. 

"Pop2uidl.dbx" can be safely deleted.

"Folders.dbx" contains lists of newsgroups available on servers and may contain other information about which groups have been read. If in doubt delete it, but you will have to reload the groups list when you log on next time.

Your account information (passwords, internet mail and news server accounts, names, e-mail addresses that you use) are not affected by this function. They are stored in the system registry and changed from the Outlook Express "Tools - Accounts" menu.

It is advisable to run "Compact" from the File Menu of Outlook Express to remove traces of sent and deleted mails from the main database, before running Evidence Eliminator.

Netscape Mail 3.x and Messenger 4.x

Check the top two boxes according to the Netscape Mail versions installed on your computer. Ensure that the folder paths listed point to the Mail folder in your Netscape installation.

Netscape Mail "Hidden Evidence Files" - dangerous security hole.

The ".snm" files created by Netscape Communicator Mail v4.6 (and possibly other versions) are seriously insecure and can store and preserve megabytes of information from your hard drives which are nothing whatsoever related to E-Mail. These files are allegedly certified disposable by Netscape support and this does not interfere with the operation of Netscape. Evidence Eliminator will destroy them for you automatically.

Netscape Mail History

Enable this option to eliminate copies which Netscape keeps of your sent and deleted e-mail messages. It will not delete folders from the trash. If you delete any folders when configuring Netscape Mail, remove them manually from the trash. 

Netscape Mail Security Hole 2:

After you use Netscape Mail, select "Compact folders" from the menu. On our test version (4.73) this function often fails and leaves copies of sent e-mails hidden in the database. Our advice if you are concerned about e-mail security is to use Microsoft Outlook Express instead.