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Recently I used someone else's computer and logged on to my messenger account. I had a conversation I'd like to remain private and afterward it occurred to me that maybe this person could access a log of my conversation because I'd used their computer. Is that possible or do they need my password?

Online Security

This is a really good question. These days there is a lot of talk about online safety and the importance of keeping your personal information confidential. The online social networking site, Facebook is frequently in the news for ongoing security issues as members try to keep their profiles secure. There are several ways that your personal information can be tracked and logged online, and once data is out on the Internet, it is there forever.

MSN Account Security

In your specific case, you are probably okay, providing you logged out of your MSN account before closing the web page. Using the computer's Internet history function, the computer's owner could easily recover a list of the websites you visited. From there they could choose to re-open the MSN page. If you logged off of your account, you are okay, and the MSN sign in page will open. If you didn't log off, it is possible that your account page could open, although most email and chat sites will sign users off automatically. If you did log off, which would normally happen when you sign out and close the MSN program, then the other person would need your password to re-open the chat. The moral of this story is - always sign out of any personal web pages you visit: email, chat, banking, etc to make sure they remain secure.

Beware of Hacking Software Threats

There is software available on the market and on the Internet that is made specifically for hacking into other people's email and chat accounts. However, it is probably pretty unlikely that the person you are wondering about has this software.

To Save or Not To Save - MSN Chat Histories

While we are on this topic, it is a good opportunity to point out some other potential security risks of MSN. It is possible to set your MSN settings to save your chat histories. In this case, it is conceivable that another person could access your personal chats, especially if your MSN is set to sign you in automatically. It is best not to use the auto-sign in function unless no one else uses your computer or if it is only available to people you trust.

You can set your MSN account to save or not save your chats this way:

• Open your MSN account

• Click the Tools tab

• Go to Options, then Messages

• Scroll to the bottom and choose Message History

• From here you can opt to save or not save your chats

I hope this helps!!

Is there any possible way to recover past MSN conversations using the hard drive or something else? I haven't saved my MSN conversations, since I never clicked that option on MSN but someone told me it is possible to get those conversations later using a special program or the hard drive or something like that. Is this true? I have a cleaner device that I run every time I finish my session in the computer, but they insist it's possible to see all the history even if at first sight it won't appear.

While the easiest way to retrieve MSN conversations is to have enabled the save conversation feature, it is possible to go about the task of recovering MSN conversations. It's important for you to understand that this possibility also depends on the amount of use the computer has gone through since the conversations were first created.

Recovering MSN Conversations: Software

If you are interested in using a software program to retrieve your MSN conversations, you might be interested in dexrex. This program is free to use and is noted for instant messaging conversation retrievals. I haven't used it myself, but it does claim to be able to retrieve chat texts from numerous programs. To use this program, you will need to download and install a file that will retrieve your conversations for you. Plus, you need to install Java on your computer in order for dexrex to function. This particular application also allows you to save your conversations online in a special dexrex account that you create.

Recovering MSN Conversations: Alternative Solution

One other possibility you have is to ask the individual with whom you were having the conversations whether or not he enabled the MSN feature to archive conversations. If he did so, then he should have a log of all of the conversations you had with him through MSN. Simply ask him to share this data with you. This can be done with each individual with whom you shared conversations on MSN.

Recovering MSN Conversations: Privacy Issues

If you are worried about your past MSN conversations being retrieved against your wishes, then you are entering the world of privacy issues and the special steps that sometimes need to be taken to secure your privacy. It is true that a great deal of information can be retrieved from a computer using a data recovery program. The extent of the retrieval depends up on how much use the computer has received and whether or not the specific data in question has been overwritten by new data. To destroy evidence of personal data that you no longer wish anyone to be able to access from your computer, you should invest in a reliable program such as Paretologic Privacy Controls that will destroy the information. In fact, this tool has a free scanner that you can use to see exactly what type of information your computer is willing to reveal.

I bought this Gateway 9300 used. How do I remove the last owner's files safely? The computer has over 52,000 of them.

Used Computers and Data

It's too bad that the computer's original owner didn't take care of this task before selling it to you. I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't want someone else to have access to all of my files! Even if selling my computer to a trusted friend, I'd clean it up because you don't know where the computer might end up once the friend is done with it.

Not only is privacy a concern, as you've found out, so is space. Why should you have to deal with a hard drive that's jampacked with someone else's files? Cleaning up the computer is definitely in order.

Computer Cleanup Choices

You have several choices available to you ranging from manually deleting files and using the Disk Cleanup wizard to completely reinstalling the operating system.

Manual File Deletion

While 52,000 files seem like a lot, you don't necessarily have to delete each file individually. Depending on how the previous owner organized his files, it may be a simple matter of deleting a few folders. For example, let's suppose that the previous owner created the following sub-folders in the My Documents folder:

• Work
• Financial
• Taxes
• Artwork

Let's also suppose that each sub-folder has a series of sub-folders such as Clients, Invoices, and Marketing Campaign sub-folders in the Work sub-folder. You wouldn't need to go in and delete each file individually. Rather, you'd simply delete the entire Work sub-folder and everything within it would also be deleted.

Using the Disk Cleanup Wizard

Once you've manually deleted the previous owner's personal files, use the Disk Cleanup wizard to further cleanup the hard drive. Go to Start> Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Here you'll be able to delete downloaded program files, temporary Internet files, offline Web pages, Recycle Bin files, temporary files, log files, and more. Surprisingly, these files add up to significant amounts of disk space.

Once deleted, click the More Options tab and choose the option for removing unwanted programs. Remove any program that you do not want on your computer including games, tax software, toolbars, and so on.   

Reinstall the Operating System

If you have the original recovery CDs for the computer, you can bypass all of the proceeding steps and instead reset the computer to its factory condition. Reinstalling the operating system is fairly easy so long as you have the original recovery CDs and the computer has not been significantly upgraded. Using the recovery CD wipes the hard drive and puts the computer's hard drive back to its factory condition. (Technically the data is still recoverable, but for your purposes, this is okay.) After using the recovery CD, you will need to update Windows and install a good antivirus/antispyware application.

Related Article:

http://filetonic.com/blog/2009/05/11/cleaning-up-a-used-pc/

If I went on my son's PC, would he be able to see that I had been on there and what I was looking at when he next turns the pc on?

Computers leave clues; so yes, your son may stumble across your tracks (accidentally or otherwise). I will give you some facts about what happens when you browse through a computer.

What can be seen on a computer really depends what has been added to it. There are many third party software choices out there that will track movements on the computer both online and off. There are also ways to check recent activity on the computer that are built-in as defaults.

• Erase Internet History
• Delete searches, clear location bar, delete index.dat
• Completely wipe all traces of Online activity

Are your internet tracks really gone? Watched videos, surfed urls, glanced-at pictures? Run a free privacy scan Now

Recently Viewed Documents

There is a function of Windows XP called ‘recently viewed' that will show all of the documents that have been opened recently. It is set as the default on the system, but there is a way to erase all of the recently viewed documents. Go to Start and right click on it. Choose Properties and the Start menu tab. Click on Customize. Click on Clear - this will empty the cache of recently viewed items. It will clear the items but not hide the functions. You can see recently viewed documents in the C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Recent folder.

Are your internet tracks really gone? Watched videos, surfed urls, glanced-at pictures? Run a free privacy scan Now

Even though you have erased the items from the recently viewed folder, most of these items are still kept in the computer's registry. There is no easy way to erase them from the registry, so if your son is technologically savvy, he may still be able to see what has been viewed after it has been erased.

Internet History

It is easy to see the recently viewed websites on the Internet - for example in Internet Explorer, all you have to do is hold down the History button on the tool bar to see recently viewed websites. In addition, typing the first few letters of a URL in the address bar and pausing often reveals a list of websites that have been visited that start with those letters. You can clear this by going to Tools, then Internet Options. Choose Clear History and it will erase all recently viewed websites.

Tracking Software

If there has been tracking software installed on the machine, it will be extremely difficult to cover your tracks. This type of third-party software tracks everything that has been done on the machine both on the PC itself and on the Internet. It is often used by employers and parents to track where computer users have been. It is meant to be hidden and can't be disabled except by the person who installed it.

In short, if you go on your son's computer, you may be able to erase the evidence. Then again, depending on his tech savvy, you may not.

I purchased Privacy Controls software on 4-27-2009. I cannot register my license number to use this product. Please help.

Privacy Controls Software

Paretologic's Privacy Controls software is a program that helps safeguard your confidential information from prying eyes. It has Web history elimination and file shredding features that further secure your privacy. Privacy Controls comes in a full-featured version as well as a limited-feature trial version. Most people download the trial version to make sure it meets their needs. When you upgrade to the full-featured version, you receive a license key from Paretologic. This license key will unlock the software and give you full access to all of its features.

Obtaining a Lost License Key

It sounds as if you already have the license key, but are having trouble entering it. However, in case you haven't, you can use the License Key Lookup feature to have your Privacy Controls license key information emailed to you. You will need either your Order ID or the e-mail address originally used to place the order.

Entering the License Key

Once you have the license key, you must enter it into the Privacy Controls software in order to unlock the product. To do this, click on the About link. You'll see a "registration area." Either type the license key in the box or copy and paste it. Copying and pasting is preferred because errors such as enter the letter ‘o' instead of the number ‘0' are eliminated. In fact, according to ParetoLogic, Privacy Controls' license keys to not contain the letter ‘o' at all. If you see what looks like an ‘o' in your license key, press the number ‘0' instead. Click the OK button and your product should be fully functional.

ParetoLogic Support

If for some reason, your product will not accept the code and you've tried copying and pasting, you may need to contact the software developer personally for assistance. You can contact ParetoLogic Technical Support on via their Tech Support webpage.

I am unable to delete a directory. I get the following error: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. The directory contains: \music\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat. Any ideas?

What is the Index.dat File?

Your computer has several index.dat files scattered throughout the hard drive in various directories. This is a hidden system file, often extremely hard to view (even when Folder Options is set to show hidden system files). Index.dat files are exactly as the name describes; that is they are indexes containing data. The data in this case involves a record of every single URL you have ever visited - even if you have deleted your Web browsing history!  

Privacy Concerns Surrounding Index.dat Files

Most users are savvy enough to delete their web histories and cookies so that other users won't be able to see what websites have been visited. For example, a teenager might not want his parents to know that he's been viewing inappropriate material on the Internet so he deletes the Web history files. Another example might be an employee who's been checking out Monster.com on the job. However, anyone in the know can simply view the index.dat file and see a complete history despite the other user's precautions.

Deleting Index.dat Files

In this case, you want to delete a directory that contains an index.dat file but you can't because of the "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process" error. The index.dat file is locked by the operating system. While there are manual ways of deleting index.dat files, they are complicated. Not only that, index.dat files are scattered throughout your computer - and they are hard to find because they are well hidden by Windows.

Depending on your operating system (Windows 200 and above), you may be able to delete this particular index.dat file by creating a new user account with administrative rights. Log onto the computer as the new user and then try to delete the index.dat file in your \music\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 folder. Once deleted, log back in as the original user and then delete the new user account you just created. Keep in mind that Windows will eventually create a new  index.dat file that will start tracking your history once again.

It's much easier to invest in a privacy protection software utility such as Privacy Controls from ParetoLogic Software. This software provides complete privacy protection including dealing with the index.dat files and securely deleting files once and for all.