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Glite Dictionary
🚗 A window cleaner 🧹 A machine cleaner 💾 A data eraser 🔌 A sliding contact
wiper

wiper

1 7.2
A program that deletes files so they cannot be recovered
  • noun
  • /ˈwaɪpər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : programa de borrado seguro
  • To ensure data security, the company used a wiper that permanently erased all sensitive information from the hard drives.
  • drive wiper
  • wiper tool

Examples

  • Ebola is called a "slate wiper" for humans. There is no known cure. Once infected, the virus kills its host in 7 days...

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The IT department implemented a wiper program to protect against unauthorized data recovery after disposing of old computers.

  • For his digital privacy, he installed a wiper that effectively deleted all traces of his online activities.

Synonyms

shredder
vswiper
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A program or tool that completely deletes files so they cannot be recovered

focuses on secure deletion of whole storage media rather than individual files
formatter
vswiper
  • Specialized
5.3

A program that sets up a storage device by erasing data and making a file system

securely removes data so it cannot be recovered rather than only creating a file system

Antonyms

recovery
131 3.2

Getting back things that were lost or stolen

preservation
  • Specialized
21 4.8

Keeping digital files safe and able to be used for a long time, for example students' theses

Compounds

windshield wiper
  • US
9 2.3

A moving blade that clears rain or snow from a car's front window

wiper blade
2 2.4

A long thin strip of rubber that wipes a car windshield

windscreen wiper
  • UK
1 2.3

A moving rubber blade on a car that clears rain or snow from the front window

wiper arm
  • Specialized
6.8

A metal arm that moves to touch different electrical contacts in a control like a volume knob

wiper motor
3.7

A small electric machine that moves the blades that clean a car's front window

How Damaging

wiper
  • Specialized
1 7.2
malware
  • Specialized
43 4.3
corrupter
  • Specialized
8.8
virus
  • Specialized
137 3.3
fault
69 3.2
bug
  • Specialized
211 2.8
to glitch
  • Specialized
3 5.8

Surface Forms

wiper singular
wipers plural

Morphology

wiper = wipe (transparent) = wipe + er

A computing 'wiper' (tool that erases data) is a direct metaphorical/instrumental extension of 'wipe' meaning 'remove', which is readily inferable.

Etymology

Wiper comes from the verb wipe, which means 'to remove by rubbing' or 'to clean away'. A computer wiper 'wipes' data by removing or writing over files so they cannot be recovered, which is why it is called a 'wiper'.