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    Can you name a modern OS that has property 1? Windows NT does clear the memory before handing it out again. Property 2 requires admin privs, so you should not worry about other processes doing this, but about data remaining on the disk after the program terminates or the system restarts. Commented Sep 18, 2012 at 8:40
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    I know attributes of Java objects are cleaned / initialized at instantiation time. But what after memory release / JVM termination. Will there be a cleanup? Commented Sep 18, 2012 at 8:53
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    @user573215 - I don't believe so. No. Commented Sep 18, 2012 at 9:27
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    malloc might reuse memory used by the same process earlier without clearing it. But an OS reusing uncleared memory across processes seems very dumb. Commented Sep 18, 2012 at 10:02
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    The link talks about kernel memory. Memory allocations of usermode processes are something different entirely. Commented Sep 18, 2012 at 11:17