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!!

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.

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/

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.

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.

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.

Index.dat Files

Windows uses a variety of files to keep track of each user's history. These files are known as "index.dat" files. What makes these files particularly troublesome is that they contain a complete record of every single Web site that you have ever visited - even if you have cleaned your history and temporary Internet files!

It is possible to delete index.dat files, but it is tricky. These files are considered system files and are hidden. Even when enabling the "show hidden files" option, the index.dat files do not always show up. A better way is to use a program designed specifically for protecting your privacy which I'll discuss shortly. In the meantime, if you want to try to find and delete the index.dat files manually, here are some of the more common places to look.

First, go into Folder Options by right-clicking the Start button, choosing Explore, clicking on Tools, and clicking on Folder Options. Click the View tab and enable "Show hidden files and folders."

Common Storage Locations for Index.dat Files in Windows XP

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Cookies\index.dat
• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012001123120020101\index.dat
• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat
• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012002010720020114\index.dat

Common Storage Locations for Index.dat Files in Windows Vista

• \Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
• \Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\low\index.dat
• C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\Content.IE5\index.dat
• \Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\index.dat

Privacy Controls Software

If you can find and delete the index.dat files, this is a good start. However, there are many possible locations where index.dat files appear and they don't generally appear when performing a specific search because Windows considers them system files. If you are concerned about your privacy, using Privacy Controls software is a much better choice. This is a reputable product from ParetoLogic software that provides you with the privacy protection you are seeking. A free scan allows you to try the software out before you buy it - and it is quite revealing. You may be surprised at what your computer stores about your usage, even beyond Internet surfing. 

We'll need to cover a few things here in order to solve the problem for you. Read through the directions and see what you can accomplish.

Clear the Browser History

The first step that you want to take is to clear the browser history. How you do this varies according to the web browser that you have. Follow the directions listed below for the web browser that you have to clear your browser history.

How to remove Web tracks and History in Internet Explorer:

• Open "Internet Explorer."
• Go to "Tools" at the top of the page.
• Select the "General" tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
• Select "Clear History."
• Click "ok."

How to Remove Web History in Mozilla:

• Open "Mozilla."

• Go to Edit and open "Menu."
• Select "Preferences."
• Select navigator listed under the category title.
• Select "Clear history" in the history listing.

• Click "ok."

How to remove Web history in Opera:

• Open "Opera."

• Go to Edit and open "Menu."
• Select "Preferences."
• Select navigator listed under the category title.
• Select "Clear history" in the history listing.

• Click on "ok."

How to remove Web history in Firefox:

• Open "Firefox."
• Go to "Tools" at the top of the page.
• Select the "Privacy" tab.
• Click the "Clear" button.
• Click on "ok."

How to remove Web history in Netscape:

• Open "Netscape."
• Go to "Edit" and open the "Menu."
• Select "Preferences."
• Select "Navigator" listed under the category title.
• Select "Clear history" in the history listing.
• Click "ok."

Privacy Controls

One application that is designed to remove all evidence of Internet activity on the computer is ParetoLogic's Privacy Controls. This program offers a free trial use. If you like it, you can purchase it for a small fee. Privacy Controls will completely remove all evidence of browsing history including files, music, images, videos, and more. This application is one of the leading privacy protection software products on the market today.

Browser cookies are pieces of text that are sent by a website to authenticate and maintain information about users using a unique ID number. Because they track user behavior online, many users disable cookies as they try to maintain some Internet privacy. If your cookies are disabled, you may get a message such as: "Your browser is not currently set to accept cookies" when you go to certain websites.

Accepting Cookies

It is very easy to set your browser to accept cookies. The exact steps may vary depending on your browser, but you should be able to easily find the correct setting no matter how you access the Internet. Get into your browser and then find Tools and then Options (or Settings and Options). You will probably see a Privacy tab, if so, click on it. Look for an option for accepting cookies, and make sure there is a check mark by that option to enable them. You can also usually choose an option so that you are notified when cookies are being used and can choose to allow them or not allow them on your machine.

Cookies on Favorites

You may get the cookie error message for certain websites even after you have enabled them through your browser. If you are accessing the website through your Favorites list, the link may have been damaged and it doesn't recognize that you have cookies enabled.

If this is happening to you, you need to remove the link from Favorites and then add it back again. Start Internet Explorer and click on Favorites. Choose Organize Favorites and find the Favorite link in question. Right click on it and choose Delete. Click Yes to send that link to the recycle bin. Go to the website for the favorite and add it back to your favorites list. With the link refreshed, cookies should be enabled and you should have no more trouble.

These simple instructions should solve your cookie problems and allow you to access the websites without errors. In general, cookies are not dangerous and can allow your web experience to run more smoothly.

Everybody does a little bit of surfing at work - and those that say they don't are lying. That said, I hope I don't have to tell you how not-smart it was to visit "adult content" sites on your work computer. Do I?

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on the hard drive. These give a unique identifier that is pertinent to a particular website to each computer that visits a site. First party cookies keep your IP address and a list of pages that you have visited within the website. You can make sure that you delete first party cookies by opening your browser's Advanced Privacy Setup and under First Party Cookies choose Prompt. This will show you when first party cookies have been detected.

Deleting Cookies

Deleting your cookies and Internet history is a good way to cover your tracks, but it is not foolproof. If your employer has an idea that you are misusing company computers, they can install a program like Track4Win, which will give them Internet data even if you have deleted the history and cookies. Not only that, but every time you delete this information, little bits and pieces of it are left behind - pieces that can be put back together to give them a history of what you have visited even long after you have deleted the evidence. It is totally legal for your employer to "spy" on you this way and the law will back them up every time. Do I have you panicking now?

Actually, you can probably relax. Unless they are specifically looking for this information, it is unlikely that your tech department will accidentally stumble upon your Internet history. Because you have deleted the cookies and history, it won't come up when they are fixing the malware problem. Traces of websites that you visit may still be present - You can use Filetonic's Privacy Controls Scan to see what remains viewable on your PC. The full featured version of Privacy Controls will shred all Web tracks. There is a difference between deleting information and ‘shredding' it. Disc and data shredding programs like Privacy Controls and Data Shredder will recover and put together information that you have deleted and ‘shred' it so that it can't be viewed. This requires a software purchase, and of course, your employer might be interested about why you have installed this on their computer, if you can do it at all.

While you can probably breathe easy about your past Internet activity at work, your only guarantee that you won't get caught is to stop visiting questionable Internet sites from your work computer.