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PrivacyScan protects your online and offline privacy by shredding files that can be used to track your web browsing and computer usage. PrivacyScan provides protection by scanning your system for files that could compromise your privacy and offers multiple levels of shredding to securely erase them from your system.
No matter where you go on the web, PrivacyScan is ready to alert you to potential threats, and provides the means to eliminate them easily with an intuitive user interface.
A complete overview of PrivacyScan, including detailed instructions on how to use the various program features, is available in the PrivacyScan User Guide.
PrivacyScan will run on Mac OS X 10.7 or later, and requires a 64-bit processor. You can determine the processor type of your Mac by referring to the chart available here.
Please note that PrivacyScan is not an app for iPhones or iPads, and will only run on computers running Mac OS X.
PrivacyScan supports the following browsers, apps, and items:
Camino: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Last Session Information, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Chromium: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Flash Cookies, Form Values, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Chrome: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Flash Cookies, Form Values, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Finder: Recent Items, Recent Folders, and Download Quarantine History.
Firefox: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Form Values, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Flash Cookies: History, Shared Objects
Flock: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Form Values, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
iCab: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Top Sites, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
OmniWeb: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Form Values, and Webpage Icons.
Opera: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Preview: Recent Items
QuickTime: Cache, Download Quarantine History, Recent Items
Safari: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Form Values, Last Session Information, Recent Searches, Top Sites, Webpage Icons, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
SeaMonkey: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Form Values, Last Session Information, and Web Storage/DOM Storage.
Shiira: Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Download History, Last Session Information, and Webpage Icons.
From the Mac App Store:
PrivacyScan is available for purchase in the Mac App Store.
From SecureMac directly:
PrivacyScan is available for purchase from within the PrivacyScan demo app as well as directly from our website.
If you would like to try PrivacyScan before making a purchase, a free 15-day demo of PrivacyScan is available for download.
PrivacyScan is available for purchase in the Mac App Store.
PrivacyScan is available for purchase from within the PrivacyScan demo app as well as directly from our website.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from the Mac App Store, it will be located in the Applications folder by default. PrivacyScan is downloaded and installed from the Mac App Store at the time of purchase.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from the Mac App Store and need to reinstall it on your system, open the Mac App Store, click on Purchases at the top of the Mac App Store window, and PrivacyScan should be listed along with your other previously purchased apps. Click the Install button next to PrivacyScan to reinstall it on your system.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from our website, you will be provided with a download link at the time of purchase. After downloading the PrivacyScan disk image (dmg), double-click the PrivacyScan.dmg file and then simply drag the PrivacyScan app icon from the disk image to the Applications folder to install PrivacyScan on your system.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from our website and need to reinstall it on your system, you can download the PrivacyScan disk image (dmg) directly from our website at http://dl.securemac.com/files/PrivacyScan.dmg. After downloading the PrivacyScan disk image (dmg), double-click the PrivacyScan.dmg file and then drag the PrivacyScan app icon from the disk image to the Applications folder to reinstall PrivacyScan on your system.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from the Mac App Store, it is automatically registered with your Mac App Store account and does not need to be registered with a serial number.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from our website, you will be provided with a serial number at the time of purchase. After installing PrivacyScan on your system, open the PrivacyScan app and enter your serial number when prompted.
If you encounter problems registering PrivacyScan, make sure to disable any firewalls or security programs that may be running on your system when attempting to register PrivacyScan. After successful registration they can be re-enabled.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from the Mac App Store, the Mac App Store will notify you when updates are available for PrivacyScan. To download and install PrivacyScan updates, open the Mac App Store, click on Updates at the top of the Mac App Store window, and PrivacyScan will be listed if an update is available. Click the Update button next to PrivacyScan to install the updated version of PrivacyScan on your system.
If you purchased PrivacyScan from our website, you can set PrivacyScan to automatically check for updates. If PrivacyScan is set to automatically check for updates, it will do so every time you open the PrivacyScan app. Alternatively, you can manually check for updates by clicking the PrivacyScan menu and clicking "Check for Updates..." and PrivacyScan will let you know if an update is available.
If you need to change the PrivacyScan settings, click the "PrivacyScan" menu, then click "Preferences." On the PrivacyScan Preferences screen you can change the scan and cleaning settings for installed apps by selecting an app from the drop down menu and, and checking the items that you want PrivacyScan to clean.
In order for PrivacyScan to work correctly, apps that are selected for cleaning cannot be running while PrivacyScan is performing a scan or cleaning privacy threats. PrivacyScan will alert you when you need to quit running apps. Click the magnifying glass icon in the Application Alert screen to switch to that application, and then quit the app from its application menu or by pressing Command-Q (⌘-Q). After quitting all running apps listed in the Application Alert screen, PrivacyScan will be able to continue the scan/cleaning of privacy threats.
Note that some applications might still be running in the background even if their icon doesn't appear in the Dock; be sure to use the magnifying glass icon to locate and quit those apps as necessary.
OS X automatically creates new "default" files for some items when they are cleaned from the system, including Finder Recent Items, Safari Cookies, etc. These newly created files are simply empty or template files used by the operating system to store data going forward. This is normal behavior for the operating system, and does not indicate any problems in cleaning the files.
If PrivacyScan is unable to clean a file, it will let you know, as seen here.
If PrivacyScan is unable to clean an item, first make sure that you are running the latest version of PrivacyScan.
If you are running the latest version of PrivacyScan and still encountering problems cleaning items, quit the apps that PrivacyScan is unable to clean, then open your Utilities folder (located in your Applications folder by default) and then run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions or perform disk First Aid on your Hard Drive. Restart your computer once Repair Permissions/First Aid is complete, then run PrivacyScan first thing, before opening any of your apps or surfing the web.
If PrivacyScan still can't clean items after following the steps listed above, let us know and we can investigate further! Please include the error message and the names of affected files and programs, as well as the version number for the affected program, and send an email to privacyscan@securemac.com with any supporting documents as attachments (including screenshots).
PrivacyScan is a stand alone application that only runs when launched and does not continue to run in the background when you quit the program. At this time PrivacyScan does not have a scheduler to automate the scan or cleaning processes.
If you'd like to learn more about PrivacyScan or view detailed instructions on how to use the various program features, more information is available in the PrivacyScan User Guide.