Netbook Network

ExifCleaner is a system utility designed to clean Exif data from your images. Exif data is pretty much the equivalent of tags on an MP3 file, but just for images. Many cameras, upon taking a picture, will save things like the camera’s make, model, and time the picture was taken. That’s where ExifCleaner comes in – to remove such data to protect your privacy. This application, designed by SuperUtils.com, is a mere $15. But is it any good? Read the review to find out!

This review was tested on a desktop with a Core 2 Quad processor, 6GB DDR2 RAM, and a Nvidia 8400GS. The version reviewed is ExifCleaner 1.4.

There are actually two versions of ExifCleaner that can be used – the installer version, and then the portable version. I opted for the portable version, as it’s usually a bit easier to manage. ExifCleaner is a mere 1.5 MB, and as there’s a portable version, it’s great for on-the-go use.

As soon as you launch ExifCleaner, you’ll be presented with the main screen.

It’s extremely clean – on the left side, you can drag and drop various images, and on the right side, you’ll be presented with a thumbnail of the image selected, and whatever Exif data is included. The program only accepts .JPG files, but from what I see, they’re the only files that are capable of containing Exif data. On the top toolbar, you have the option to open Windows Explorer to select images, clear out your image list, clean your images of Exif data, and adjust settings.

In the settings menu, there’s a neatly arranged set of options to choose and change around.

In the “Clean Options” tab, you’re given the ability to select what data is marked to be erased. You can choose to remove all tags entirely, or remove only a select set of tags.

In the “File Options” tab, you’re given a set of options on how and where to save the file(s) after you’ve cleaned them.

And in the “Extras” tab, you’re given a set of options for the more technologically advanced.

Instead of going step by step through pictures alone, I thought it would be smarter to create a video, and have you decide how well the program works.

In the video, I use ExifCleaner to clean out Exif tags from various sample images in my sample images folder. There was a lot of data in those images – and it seems that ExifCleaner did a great job cleaning them out (the only data left was the copyright and artist information, which is alright). The cleaning is lossless, and the actual image is not changed, so there is no quality loss. After cleaning out Exif data, it seems the images have lost a few KB in terms of filesize as well.

Conclusion:
ExifCleaner is simple, straightforward, and easy to use. Selecting and cleaning images was a snap, and it’s great interface makes everything extremely easy. Images were cleaned of Exif data extremely quickly, and the program lists out nicely what data is going to be cleaned out. Overall, I’ve found using ExifCleaner a very good experience, and it’s a steal at $15 for anyone who wants a program like this.

Pros:
-Clean interface
-Easy to use
-Very fast at cleaning images
-No quality loss
-Has a portable version
-Doesn’t leave unnecessary material

Cons:
-Not free
-No help file, but you don’t really need one.

For netbooks:
-Window is re-sizable, application works very well

ExifCleaner has earned our Golden Award. Congratulations, SuperUtils.com! ExifCleaner can be found and purchased at its website, which can be found here.