ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021 59
O&O SafeErase ProfessionalFINDINGNEWANDinteresting
ways to make use of the photos
you take can be difficult. While
there’s nothing to stop you from
using the likes of Photoshop to
turn an ordinary snap into
something extraordinary,not
everyone has the necessary skills
to use such acomplicated piece
of software–nor the funds to
buy it. That’s where Picture to
Painting Converter can help.
This great little tool gives
you aquick and easy wayto
transform any photograph into
awork of art in one of several
painting styles. Youcould, forSoftOrbits Picture to Painting Converter
REQUIREMENTSWindows7,8,10;
100MBharddisk space
WEBSITEwww.softorbits.com
NOTESGetyourregistration code within
theapplicationinstance,take one of your
landscape shots and transform
it intoawater colour.You could
take aportrait of your loved
ones and turn it intoastunning
oil painting.
In fact, there are many
different artistic styles foryou
to choose from, and even
numerous sub-types of style.
Rather than just being able to
choose the oil painting or
impressionist option, you can opt
forflat or reliefoils, or abstract
or spot impressionism.
The program is incredibly
simple to use,even if you’reunfamiliar with the usual process
of editing images. Youcan usea
drop-down menu to choose the
painting style you want, and then
aseries of sliders can be used to
configure parameters such as the
strength of effects and various
other settings.
Youcan work with images on
aone-by-one basis, or use the
batch processing option to apply
the same settings to an entire
folder of images –very handy if
you want to keep everything
uniform foraparticular project.
There are also some basic
image-editing and correction
options available in Picture to
Painting Converter,enabling you
to rotate photos that are not in
the correct orientation, and use
features such as image
sharpening, software and
temperature correction to
optimise the look.
Completed images can be
saved directly as new files, or you
can copythem to the clipboard
ready forpasting intoanother
application forfurther editing.REQUIREMENTSWindows7,8,10;
200MBhard disk space
WEBSITEwww.oo-software.com
NOTESGetyourregistration code at
safeerase14.disc.computershopper.co.ukIT’STEMPTINGTOthinkthat
whenyoudeleteafilefromyour
PC,it’sgoneforever.Anyone
whohasexperienceddataloss
willberelievedtolearnthatdata
can be recovered from your hard
drive foragood period of time
after it’s supposedly been erased.
That might be reassuring for
those who don’t believe in
backups, but forthe rest of us –withpotentially
sensitive information to lookafter–it’sworrying. The
reason data is so easily recoverable is that it’s not
physically deleted from your hard disk when you
empty the Recycle Bin. To prevent performance
grinding to ahalt(and save wear and tear on your
hard drive), Windows simply marks the file as
deleted, which means its header is overwritten and
the space it occupies is marked as available for
writing to.But until that space is overwritten by
other data, it remains accessible and retrievable.
O&OSafeErase Professional is designed to give
you an option forensuring data you want deleted
really does get deleted beyond the point of no
return. At its most basic level, O&OSafeErase can
wipe files with zeros or employone of five more
thorough, secure (and slower) methods recognised
by such luminaries as the US Department of Defense
to ensure files deleted from your computer can’t be
recovered –byyou or anyone else.O&OSafeErase also includes
tools forsecurely wiping clean all
traces of your internet browsing,
from cookies and downloaded
files to the pages you’ve visited.
IE, Edge,Chrome, Firefoxand
Operaare supported. Youcan
also wipe insecure Windows and
program files, such as temporary
files and Flash Player cookies.
O&OSafeErase can wipe all that supposedly free
space where the remnants of past files still reside.
Rather than just wipe all the free space on your PC,
however,SafeErase will search forwhat it considers
are unsafedeleted files, to speed up the process.
Youcan also securely deleteentire partitions and
hard disks, essential if you’re planning to sell, recycle
or otherwise dispose of your old PC or drive.
SafeErase even allows you to start the process from
within Windows itself,soyou don’t need to create
any bootable media prior to wiping the drive,while it
also uses appropriatemethods forwiping SSD drives
without adversely affecting their lifespan.
Impressively,all of this raw power is wrapped up
in asingle, simple-to-use user interface.Click Start
analysis, and O&OSafeErase will go to work –you
can then review its findings and clean up your
computer with asingle click or opt to work with
specific toolssuchasthe SafeErase files and folders
option fordeleting selected files.