Get More Privacy! How to Remove Personal Information from Files
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January 13th, 2010 written by Tibor in Tips and Tricks
Did you know that Windows adds a ton of personal information to many files you create or edit? It attaches this data to a wide variety of file types, including Word documents, JPEG images, and MP3 files.
What does this data consist of?
Everyone you send your files to can see not only your full name and the PC you used but also how long you worked on the files. More than 35 pieces of personal information may be added to the actual file—depending on the file type (for example, a Word 2007 document). This data can include the author’s full name, company and manager, as well as the content created, the date last saved and the revision number—plus much more! If you like to see which data is stored within a file, please check the file in question using the “Properties” dialogue (see below).
How can I get rid of this information?
Windows Vista and 7 both provide a relatively easy—and well-hidden—feature to remove personal information. However, depending on the file you use, you might not be able to get rid of all meta data–that might be the case, if it has been created or edited by a 3rd party program (as our reader Michael mentioned in the comments). In many cases, especially if you used Microsoft products to create the file, you’ll be able to strip the meta information easily. In the case of photos, such as JPGs created by 3rd party programs, you might like to use a program called Exif Tag Remover.
The following steps help you get rid of all or at least part of this information using the Windows 7 method:
- Right-click on the file you want to remove the additional information from. Then, select “Properties”.
- Go to the “Details” tab, and click on the tiny blue-colored link called “Remove Properties and Personal Information”. Now, if you want to keep all of this information in the file on your hard disk but send a “clean” copy out, hit “OK”. You will then find a copy in the same folder.
- However, if you want to remove specific (or all of the) information from this file, select “Remove the following properties from this file”.
To manually remove certain entries, check the relating boxes, for example:
To remove the information embedded into the file, click on “Select All”. Once you hit “OK”, you will end up with a clean file. If that didn’t do the trick, you need to dig deeper into the program you created the file with: Go through the list of options that are related to opening and saving files. Check to see if your program has options that might prevent it from adding metadata to the files.
13 Responses to “Get More Privacy! How to Remove Personal Information from Files”
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January 15, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Very interesting tutorial. Although, I’m using Windows 7 but don’t get much time to play with it, your article just help me to know, one of those unnoticed area of Windows 7. Thanks.
January 18, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Hey there, thanks for your feedback; there are a lot of neat little Windows 7 tweaks for you at our blog. Like this one: Did you know that Windows 7 has a hidden view that lets you browse through all sorts of Control Panel settings in one window? If you just want to explore what you can do and change in Windows 7, that’s a great way to go about it: Simply create a new folder—for example on your desktop—and name it “All Settings.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”. Press Enter. The folder will transform into a shortcut that will give you over 276 settings. Granted, they are all accessible via the Control Panel, but finding some of them can be very tough. Stay tuned for more tips right at here on our blog, Best, Tibor
March 4, 2010 at 10:00 am
Tibor, that folder tricks OMG OSM ! Hats off to you.
September 23, 2010 at 11:27 am
Slightly incompleete tutorial consequently misleading. This is why.
Some information created by none MS software may not be able to be deleted. For example, if you created a jpeg file and open it with Phoshop, for example. This information cannot be deleted using the above tutorial.
Thus the following statment from above “o remove all of the information embedded into the file, click on “Select All”. Once you hit “OK”, you will end up with a clean file” IS NOT TRUE. The file will not be clean.
September 23, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Hello Michael,
You are correct. So in your comment you are specifically mentioning about the EXIF Data stored in an image. And here’s the solution : http://www.softpedia.com/downloadTag/exif+cleaner
Any one of the softwares on the list would do your trick. Even our lovely Irfan View does the trick too
BTW Did you know when you upload an image to Facebook the EXIF Data is automatically erased for privacy
Have a good day,
Jeet.
September 23, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Hey Michael, thanks for the input! You are right, there may be 3rd party programs that save this meta information in a different way. I’ll test this theory with a handful of popular programs and – if necessary – update the article to include all sorts of files created by various programs! Again, good feedback, Best Tibor
September 23, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Thanks for the heads-up. The program worked fine however, if I need that level of security a simple free hex editor would suffice.
My issue with this blog remains. The full facts should have been declared in the blog instead of waiting for a a noob like myself to question the blogs veracity.
I’m not suggesting it was done malishiously, however misleading.
Regards
Michael
September 23, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Hi Tibor,
Just saw your reply. My last post can be deleted if you wish as its not relivent if your updating the post.
Regards
Michael
September 23, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Hi Michael,
yes, our comments crossed. Don’t mind about your last one.
We appreciate honesty and your opinion.
So stay tuned for the results of the test.
Best,Tibor.
September 24, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Hi Michael,
based on your feedback I did some tests and updated the article.
So once more, thanks for your feedback.
I will be happy to keep in touch.
Best,Tibor