Smart Trash (Menu) 1.1.3 – Simple but effective menu based trash tool

Reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad © 2008

Hyperbolic Software

http://www.vendorwebsiteURL.com

Released: November 14 2007

Shareware Cost: $10 USD, $9.95 CND, £5.05 GBP, €6.77 Euro

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 and later - Full Leopard compatibility. Requires 2.0MB disk space and is PCC/Intel compatible.

Strengths: An easily accessible menu based flexible trash features enhancement tool for Macintosh OS X. One that works as designed, every time I used it.

Weaknesses: Lack of a Secure Delete feature forces me to go back to Apple’s tools when such a need arises.

Copyright Notice: Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.

The software was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAM running under OS X 10.4.11

Introduction Including Publisher’s Summary

As I get ready for my new iMac and Leopard, I am working my way through all of my application, preference tools and the like to assure I have no OS X 10.5 translation glitches. For many years, since September of 2004, I have used Kanzu Utilities, iCan 3.05 as my favorite trash tool. Although I never used it in the sits on the desktop mode, I made daily use of its features acceptable from my menubar. iCan gave me ways to simply trash items, showing the size of the trashcan, from my startup disk. I could also smart (selectively) trash items, or force trash stubborn items that were stuck in the trash even after rebooting. I could also do a variety of secure deletes, with the number of write-overs chosen by my paranoia level.

Rather then taka a chance us using software that was last tested in 2004, I started searching for a Leopard compatible tool. Checking the MacUpdate site I found sit possible tools, that among other functions like putting the trash can back on my desktop (yuck) might give me a Finder Menu Bar flexible trash tool. Only Smart Trash seemed to come close to what I wanted. Although is it less feature rich than iCan, beggars can’t choosers.

According to the developer, Smart Trash enhances the functions of the Mac OS X trash by adding several menu options including: selective file deletion, extensive logging, the ability to empty the trash on specific volumes, or delete selected files from the booted volumes on your computer.

Using the Software

The software comes with an installer, making it easy to install and configure. I did not make use of the logging function, either in testing the software or in daily use. The installation puts a pink/blue eraser icon on your Finder menu bar. From there you can both control the way which trash is deleted and set your preferences. Since Smart Trash keyboard short cuts interfered with some of my established ones, so I turned them off. I could have assigned new keyboard combinations to the trash modes but why bother… the menu-based icon is just a mouse click away.

Comforts and Discomforts

Comforts

Smart Trash is simple and easy to use – its sits in the finder menu bar until I need it. It neither stutters nor otherwise malfunctions. I empty trash several times a day, not worrying much about the stuff I toss. In part I feel secure because I keep a separate backup runtime copy each version of the articles I write, Smart Trash, as did iCan alerts me to the size of the items being trashed so I have a quick way of determining whether I tossed something I wanted to save.

Selectively Deleting Trash from Mounted Volumes – I didn’t know I missed this until I gained the ability to do so with Smart Trash.

Discomforts

There’s no help information in the readme file that describes the differences between the trash options. I had to write Giuseppe Giunto to get that information. I recognize that with a little bit of paying attention, I could have figured it out for myself but I was hoping “Smart Delete” was a secure delete feature. It wasn’t; see the next item. The screen shot shows some of the details that not immediately intuitive.

Apple’s Secure delete allow one to securely and unrecoverable destroy confidential trashed information. You knew of course that trashing a file only removes its directory entry. Therefore anyone who gets access to your hard disk can recover trashed files until you’ve overwritten it with new work.

Lack of a Secure Delete feature in Smart Trash forces me to go back to Apple’s tools when such a need arises. Apple’s tools allow. one pass, seven passes or 35 overwrite passes from either Apple’s Disk Utility or Finder [Menu Bar Icon] > Secure delete trash. All the deleted items become 01010101010.] See Shredding Your Trash at the end of this review.

Conclusions and Recommendation

Although this utility lack one feature I need, the ability to secure deleted selected trashed items, it does the rest of your trash related housekeeping very well. Ten dollars is a fair price to pay if you have an active computing life and generate lots of things you want to get rid of when you’re done with a project. Smart Trash would have been a perfect “10” or a 5 macC product if the author adds secure delight.

PS:

Shredding Your Trash

Synopted from De la Main Creativity.

As of Mac OS 10.3, Apple made it easy to securely erase your data, and in 10.5 they made it even simpler.

Warning, once started, OSX will run a 35-pass overwrite of the file, essentially going well beyond the basic recommendations of any government security department. Once it is done, there will be no going back, even the most accomplished tool-rich expert will NOT be able to get that data back from that hard drive or memory store.

How it works — Once you have moved the items you need to securely remove to your trash, then select Secure Empty Trash from the File Menu in the Finder Menu.

In 10.5, this can be done the same way, or by using the respective button in the window tool bar having opened the Finder window for the trash by double-clicking the Trash icon in the Dock.

Get Some Tea or Coffee — If you intend to secure erase large files, it could take a substantial amount of time in order to complete the secure erase process, given that a large file would have to be overwritten 35 times.