BleachBit

{{short description|Free disk space cleaner, privacy manager, and computer system optimizer}}

{{Infobox software

|name = BleachBit

|logo = Bleachbit logo.svg

|screenshot = BBGUI.jpg

|caption = Screenshot of the Bleachbit 4.0.0 User Interface on GNOME Shell

|released = {{Start date and age|2008|12|24|df=yes}}

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}|df=yes}}

|programming language = Python

|operating system = Microsoft Windows
macOS
Linux

|size = 11.3-12.1 MB (Windows)

|language count = 64

|language footnote = {{cite web|title=Features | BleachBit|url=https://www.bleachbit.org/features|work=bleachbit.org|publisher=BleachBit|access-date=13 February 2013}}

|genre = Disk cleaner

|license = GNU General Public License

|website = {{URL|https://www.bleachbit.org}}

}}

BleachBit is a free and open-source disk space cleaner, privacy manager, and computer system optimizer. The BleachBit source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.

History

BleachBit was first publicly released on 24 December 2008 for Linux systems.{{cite web|url=http://bleachbit.blogspot.com/2008/12/bleachbits-public-debut.html|title=BleachBit's public debut!|website=Bleachbit.blogspot.com|date=2008-12-24|access-date=2016-04-02}} The 0.2.1 release created some controversy{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/313679/|title=BleachBit: Does GNU/Linux need the equivalent of a Windows registry cleaner?|website=Lwn.net|access-date=2016-04-02}} by suggesting Linux needed a registry cleaner.

Version 0.4.0 introduced CleanerML,{{cite web|url=http://bleachbit.blogspot.com/2009/02/bleachbit-040-cleaner.html|title=BleachBit 0.4.0 released|website=Bleachbit.blogspot.com|date=2009-02-23|access-date=2016-04-02}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://bleachbit.blogspot.com/2009/05/bleachbit-050-released.html|title=BleachBit 0.5.0 released|website=Bleachbit.blogspot.com|date=2009-05-29|access-date=2016-04-02}} On September 16, 2009, version 0.6.4 introduced command-line interface support.{{cite web|url=http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/news/bleachbit-064-released|title=BleachBit 0.6.4 released|website=bleachbit.org|date=2009-09-16|access-date=2016-04-02|archive-date=2009-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922203536/http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/news/bleachbit-064-released|url-status=dead}}

Technology

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

Most of BleachBit's cleaners are written in CleanerML,{{cite web|url=https://docs.bleachbit.org/doc/cleanerml.html|title= CleanerML|work=docs.bleachbit.org}} an open standard XML-based markup language for writing cleaners.{{cite web|url=https://bleachbit.blogspot.com/2009/02/cleaner-markup-language.html|title=BleachBit: Cleaner Markup Language|website=Bleachbit.blogspot.com|date=2009-02-19|access-date=2016-04-02}} 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{{cite web|url=https://bleachbit.blogspot.com/2009/06/validating-secure-erase.html|title=Validating secure erase|website=Bleachbit.blogspot.com|date=2009-06-04|access-date=2016-04-02}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://docs.bleachbit.org/doc/shred-files-and-wipe-disks.html|title=Shred files and wipe disks|work=docs.bleachbit.org}}

Hillary Clinton email controversy

Bleachbit was used to erase emails on Hillary Clinton's private server during her time as Secretary of State during the Obama administration.{{cite news |last1=Lichtblau |first1=Eric |last2=Goldman |first2=Adam |date=September 2, 2016 |title=F.B.I. Papers Offer Closer Look at Hillary Clinton Email Inquiry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/us/politics/hillary-clinton-fbi.html |access-date=August 30, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times}}

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 Clinton's emails, that stated that her staff had used BleachBit in order to delete tens of thousands of emails on her private server.{{cite news|last1=Nelson|first1=Louis|title=Gowdy: Clinton used special tool to wipe email server|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/hillary-clinton-emails-bleachbit-227425|access-date=August 26, 2016|work=Politico|date=August 25, 2016}}{{cite magazine|last=Newman|first=Lily Hay|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/08/security-news-week-hillary-clinton-didnt-delete-emails-super-deleted/|title=Security News This Week: Hillary Clinton Didn't Delete Her Emails, She Super Deleted Them|date=August 26, 2016|magazine=Wired|access-date=September 10, 2016}} Subsequently, then presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed Clinton had “acid washed” and “bleached” her emails, calling it “an expensive process.”{{Cite web|last=Kiely|first=Eugene|date=2016-09-08|title=Trump, Pence 'Acid Wash' Facts|url=https://www.factcheck.org/2016/09/trump-pence-acid-wash-facts/|access-date=2021-08-28|website=FactCheck.org|language=en-US}}

After the announcement, BleachBit's company website reportedly received increased traffic.{{cite web|last=Limitone|first=Julia|url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/08/29/bleachbit-creator-says-possibility-finding-clintons-wiped-e-mails-exists.html|title=BleachBit Creator Says Possibility of Finding Clinton's Wiped E-mails Exists|work=Fox Business|date=August 29, 2016|access-date=September 10, 2016}}{{Cite web|last=Shaw|first=Adam|date=November 2, 2016|title=BleachBit selling 'cloth or something' -- in homage to Clinton|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bleachbit-selling-cloth-or-something-in-homage-to-clinton|website=FoxNews.com|access-date=July 27, 2017}}