If you use your computer much you know that the "cut and paste" function can be one of the most convenient shortcuts there is. However, that convenience can also reveal information you might not want to be made public when you visit websites. Information copied to the Windows clipboard is considered to be open to viewing. That means that a simple routine on a website you visit can be setup to collect the contents of your clipboard when you visit them. Big deal? Yes, it can be! Test It! We setup the link below to demonstrate this security issue. When you click on the link, you will visit a webpage that has a very simple script which reads the contents of your clipboard and displays it for you. http://4042.com/pchelpdesk/cliptest.html Note: This is for demonstration purposes only. When using the link above, the contents of your clipboard are only displayed. The information will not be saved or collected. Why Should I Care? Have you ever copied your credit card number into the clipboard so you could paste it down in a form when buying online? Or how about copied your password to the clipboard? Maybe you cut and pasted portions of a confidential document or spreadsheet prior to visiting a web site? In any case, keep in mind that any information that resides in the clipboard should be considered as for "public" viewing....because it can be!! Your clipboard information can also be viewed, captured, and sent to a 3rd party by spyware and malware that infects your PC. Hint....have data on the clipboard you don't want visible while on the web? Make sure you copy something else to the clipboard that doesn't matter prior to beginng surfing!
Should keep in mind that the example we posted uses Javascript, but the contents of the clipboard could be read by many other script types or programming languages. A spyware/malware/virus program that installs itself on your PC could could read out the contents of the clipboard and send to a 3rd party. That could occur regardless of browser or operating system. (Although granted it would be much more likely to happen on a PC running Windows. 8) )
I'm not aware of a bulit in Windows command for this (if somebody else does, let us know!) There are several utilities available that will do it, such as ClipClear (Note: I do not use this software myself so I can't provide any feedback as to how well it works.) http://www.freewareweb.com/clipboard1.html The site listed above does use popup ads. :x
Try DOWNLOAD.COM, FREEWARE DOWNLOADS...and look for ClipBoard Cleaner 1.0....i use it and so far no problems....no pop-ups...simple to use.....use at your own discretion.
Cyberscrub is the best I have seen. It actually removes all traces of deleted items and wipes all Windows MRU info. You can actually set custom algorythms beyond D.O.D. standards.
