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Privacy As Far As The Desktop Can See
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In this day and age, you can’t be too careful with your personal information. We all know I’m not a private person in any way, but I do value your privacy and want to help keep you safe. Here are some excellent tips that Josh sent in to help your data and identity stay secure.
- Don’t shop online or check your email on public computers, or when using unencrypted wireless networks. If you do have to do these things, be sure you log out and clear any cookies and login information you possibly can. Also, try using After Work on a U3 Flash Drive if possible. After Work erases online and offline history: Temporary Internet Files, IE history, typed URLs, opened documents, started programs, and temporary registry values.
- Only visit trusted sites for downloads. For example, if you need to download drivers for hardware, check the manufacturer’s Web site first. Don’t rely on a Google search. You may end up entering personal information to get your download, or even paying for things that should be free.
- Keep your passwords long and difficult. Use more than ten characters, add punctuation where allowed, add a mixture of letters and numbers, and mix up your capitalization with lowercase letters. There are a couple of excellent password managing tools out there, including the Open Source KeePass, and RoboForm. The simple version of RoboForm is free. However, if you’d like a paid version, I can save you 20% if you ask nicely.
- Create a password for your BIOS. This will make it impossible for anyone to get onto your computer without the password. This is a password that must be entered before the OS even loads. Also, change your Windows password often, to prevent anyone from figuring it out.
- Encrypt your data. TrueCrypt is Open Source (FREE!) software that will encrypt your data as it is entered.
- Two bonus tips: Make use of hidden files and folders, and keep the option to view them turned OFF. Also, change file extensions whenever possible.
These are excellent privacy tips, Josh. For everyone else, what other privacy tips do you have that you want to pass along to the rest of the world? Leave them for me in a comment to this video, or email them to me at chris@pirillo.com
2 Comments
Bill Webb
December 13th, 2007
at 4:47am
I certainly agree with all of Josh’s comments — and there can never be enough comments on this subject.
The best protection for anyone’s computer isn’t software, it’s wetware — the computer between the operator’s ears. People who don’t do dumb things are very unlikely to have their computers or privacy compromised (at least unknowingly, in the case of privacy). There are excellent tips at the CERT webpages for both home and commercial users.
Kev
December 13th, 2007
at 5:46pm
So what’s a good (free) way to password protect a single .exe file to prevent users of a shared computer from accessing just that one program?
I’ve got a game on my shared PC that we all play - but I only want the other users (my kids) to play when I’m home and can enter the password for them so I can monitor their gameplay.