Tips on Computer Privacy

MasterCLiP

Resident Brony
Former Krew Member
I don't Know if this happens to any of you, but on a daily basis I will have friends, family, and friends of family going through my house. Sometimes they will snoop around and find their way into my room. Now say they decide to hop on my computer and do something stupid (i.e. download a virus or delete all my computer data or open cod4 and start doing karaoke into the voice chat). To prevent such mishaps I have taken several precautions to keep household pests out of my computer.

1. Passcode lock your PC
- This should be something only you should know. Although for most pests booting up someone elses computer and trying to log on only to see a enter password screen usually discourages them to continue further. I someone is serious about getting on your PC put in the pw for them DON'T TELL THEM.

2.Set up a guest profile.
- These are probably the best way to go if you share your PC with others from time to tome. You (the admin of your PC) can control all aspects of this profile. Also why stop with just your PC? Make another account on cod4 for them to use if you don't want them using your account! To make it fair; lvl up the guest cod4 account to lvl 55 and have everything unlocked so there's no reason for them to get on your account.

3. Keep your internet business to yourself!
- If you don't want nosy family members looking through your facebook account; you log off after your done using it right? Same thing with the forum! Don't let siblings/friends have access to your forum account if you think they might abuse it.

I don't usually post thinks like this, but I hate it when I see stories about how someone messed up their cod4 rep other their 10 yr old sister deleted all their data so I hope this helps a bit!

Cheers!!
 

WaLLy

Lieutenant General
|K3| Executive
Good info.

I'm glad it's just my wife and I and I don't have to worry about prying eyes.

Either way, to add to #3, you can - depending on web browser - automatically delete all cookies, history upon exiting the browser. Saves me from having to click the log-off button.
 

AVC

Banned
I'm glad it's just my wife and I and I don't have to worry about prying eyes.

What about the porn stash?


A better one than the typical passworded log-on, is to set up a new hardware profile. This will come up as a choice of which HW profile you wish to use during the POST/boot. The machine will hang at the choice prompt until you select. But instead of using something called "blah profile" you call it something interesting like "BIOS error, bootup.exe not found, hold power button down for 4 seconds to continue". That, along with all the other text on the screen should scare any non-techie person away thinking the machine is broken.

Oh yeah, backup all your important shit and store it off machine. Or at least in an encrypted volume.

Private browsing is a good way to keep the noseys out too. No record of all those donkey porn sites you've been on.
 

517Houston

|KKK| Gaming Legend
|K3| Member
I dont use passwords and i refuse to use antivirus, a firewall and my wireless is unsecure..

Why?

Because nobody would ever steal my shit


Dont laugh.. Someone actually said this to me once..

I then hacked his pc and showed him how easy it was to steal his shit.. He feels differently now
 

TheDude

Dudesicle
|K3| Member
What about the porn stash?


A better one than the typical passworded log-on, is to set up a new hardware profile. This will come up as a choice of which HW profile you wish to use during the POST/boot. The machine will hang at the choice prompt until you select. But instead of using something called "blah profile" you call it something interesting like "BIOS error, bootup.exe not found, hold power button down for 4 seconds to continue". That, along with all the other text on the screen should scare any non-techie person away thinking the machine is broken.

Oh yeah, backup all your important shit and store it off machine. Or at least in an encrypted volume.

Private browsing is a good way to keep the noseys out too. No record of all those donkey porn sites you've been on.

^thinks all your important stuff might not be the same as what your wife thinks is important XD



......andd..
all of the donkey porn sites? You sure?
 

BluBirD78

Master of BluballZ
|K3| Member
Very nice post Clip, actually I just turned my password on for wake up after my pc goes to sleep mode. Now that I live in my own apartment and the maintenance people have a key to my apartment, hell anyone could get on it for all I know, thanks for the tips and the reminder for me!! :D
 

TheDude

Dudesicle
|K3| Member
Yea man, not even jsut maintenance people. Some dude just stole my friends laptop at her party. Just kinda walked out with it. Also, someone managed to get into the next apartment building down the street, (there is a security door) and then walk up 3 floors with a crowbar and tear the door to someone's place out of its frame and then robbed their stuff. If someone can do that in the middle of the day with people living all around them (i can hear the guy who lives next to me walking around if hes loud enough) tells me every little thing you can do to keep your really important info secure, you might as well do.
 

CiTyCHiLD

Second Lieutenant
Former Krew Member
Can anyone tell me how to set up another profile on my computer? I'm not sure how to do it. I have a password on my pc but I don't like having to unlock it for people so it would be cool if they could click on the other profile.
 

WaLLy

Lieutenant General
|K3| Executive
Assuming you have Windows XP

Click Start button
Select Control Panel'
Select 'User Accounts'
Select 'Create new profile'

Easy-peasy. :)
 

PwnSauce

Banned
If you want real privacy, go here:
http://www.truecrypt.org/

It's a public, open-source, free encryption program that lets you encrypt your stuff so that NOBODY can get it.
Not even you, if you lose your passphrase.

basically, you install and start the program.
Create a new image file.
Choose your encryption method and assign a passphrase to the image.
That encrypts the file. You mount it like you would a CDROM drive.
It becomes a drive letter and you drag and drop stuff into it that you want to encrypt.

Name the file to something that would otherwise normally be on a computer and you also add a degree of security through obscurity. (e.g., homework.doc)

It's pretty sweet.
 
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AVC

Banned
+1 to what Pwn said. Truecrypt rocks.

You can even have a "dummy" volume. So that if someone forces your password, you enter a different password and it opens a different volume.

So, lets say you have an encrypted volume and you password is "secret". Enter that PW and it opens your porn stash. If you enter the PW "password" it opens, but the volume has all your music files in it. The volume with the porn stash remains hidden.
 
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