Submitted by:
Rebecca R. Molus MC10
Alarm Coordinator
Maricopa Police Department

Snoop Proof Your Computer

Your PC is ready and willing to reveal what you’ve been up to. Give nosy types just a few hours to dig around, and they can unearth plenty: incoming and outgoing mail you’ve deleted, Internet sites you’ve visited, search criteria and data you’ve entered on web forms, even phrases you’ve included in a document (then thought better of and deleted). Fortunately, you can protect yourself with a few insider tricks. Here’s how to keep your personal PC information hidden.

Take out your recycling

Get rid of files you think you’ve already nixed from your system. We’re talking about all the trash you banished to your Recycle Bin. Sure, you can empty it out whenever you remember, but a better way is to turn off the Recycle Bin. To truly delete your files the first time around, right click on the Recycle Bin and choose Properties, then Global. Check the box called “Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately on delete.”

Clean up and lock down

Even if snoops can’t view your documents directly, they can get an idea of what you’ve been doing by scanning your list of recently used files in the Microsoft Word or Excel File menu. This temporary menu lists even files you’ve recently deleted, so it’s best to turn off the option. In Word or Excel, select Tools>Options, then General. Uncheck the box labeled Recently Used File List.

Next, cover the tracks of your current documents. Pop up the Start menu and select Documents. It shows a list of the last 15 or so files you had open, making it too easy for someone to browse through your work or personal files without even searching your hard drive. To hide your work, clear the menu by clicking on the Start>Control Panel>Task Bar and Start Menu. Then click on the Start Menu tab, click Customize, and then click the Clear List button.

Now it’s time to clean out your temp files. Word and other applications usually save temporary copies of your work in progress to guard against system crashes. Many applications also save text you’ve deleted, moved, or copies, even if you haven’t saved the file you’re working on. Get rid of those bits by routinely deleting the temporary files that each application saves in the WINDOWS/TEMP folder. Also, be sure to delete all files within its subdirectories, such as those labeled FAX and WORDXX. Many of the files have extensions such as TMP, but they are actually complete versions of DOC, HTML, or even image files.

Passwords protect

New computers with Windows XP usually provide some basic security. You can make your computer completely inaccessible while you’re away from it by setting a password in Windows XP.
In the Control Panel, click on Users.
Click on Create a New Account, and follow the prompts to create a user identity and password for yourself.
You will now need to know the password in order to log into the system.
You can also add a password to your screensaver:
In the Control Panel, click on Display.
Click on the Screen Saver tab.
After selecting a screen saver, check the box next to On resume, password protected.
Click the Change button to set the password, and then click OK.

Now, when your screen saver runs, only someone who knows the password will be able to reactivate the computer.
You can also add password protection to specific files using such programs as Word and Excel. With the program, click Save As and then select the Options button to set the password option for each file.

The best passwords aren’t real words or dates. Use a combination of letters, numbers, and punctuation for a password that’s hard to guess. You’ll have to type your password each time you open and save the document.
Learn more about choosing and protecting your passwords.

Caught in your own web

Browsers (i.e., Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, even AOL) keep a record of every web address you type into your browser. To see this for yourself, just enter a URL (website address) in the location window below the toolbar; the browsers record the URL in the drop-down menu until other entries replace it. Here’s a way to visit a site undetected: In either browser, press Ctrl-O to bring up a dialog box, then type the URL into it.

Your browser is the next area to safeguard. Both Internet Explorer and Navigator keep lists of all the places you’ve been, including the specific pages you’ve visited, searches you’ve done, and data you’ve entered.
To view your web history in Navigator, press Ctrl-H; to delete Navigator’s history items, highlight the desired items and press the “Del” key, or delete them all at once by choosing Select All on the Edit menu and then pressing the “Del” key.
To view your web history in Internet Explorer, choose View>Explorer Bar>History. Internet Explorer stores your web history in weekly folders or by website. You can delete individual URLs, but the quickest way is to delete entire folders. To clear out your whole history, select Edit>Internet Options or Tools>Internet Options, choose the General Tab, and click on the Clear History button.

You should also clean out your cache. Both Internet Explorer and Navigator keep caches of recently visited web pages on your hard drive. This speeds up web access when you revisit the pages, but it also leaves you open to snoops.
To clear your cache in Navigator, choose Preferences from the Edit menu, click on the “+” sign next to the Advanced selection, and then click on Cache. Now click on the button labeled Clear Disk Cache. In Internet Explorer, select Internet Options from the View menu and click on the General tab. Click on the button labeled Delete Files.

You can also set your browser so that it doesn’t use a cache at all. (Yes, this slows surfing.) In Navigator, select Edit>Preferences>Advanced. Click on Cache and set the Disk Cache box to 0. In Internet Explorer, select View>General>Settings. Then move the slider all the way to the left.

If you connect to the Internet via DSL or cable modem, your high-speed connection makes a tempting target for hackers as you are “on line” at all times. For this reason you should have a good firewall program installed. Personal firewalls protect your computer system from external attack and provide warning of nefarious activity. A computer using a national broadband provider receives an amazing number of scans on a daily basis. Once you install a personal firewall, you can see what kind of scans your system gets. Even if you run a personal firewall, never share your drive or folders with other users on the Internet.

Gone Wireless?

If you are a user of the new wireless Internet connection, your neighbors several houses away may be able to see what you are doing on your computer. Encryption programs can keep hackers out. They come with your wireless unit, so take an extra 5 minutes to load the program and use it.
If you have a home network there are a few simple things you can do to reduce the likelihood that someone will snoop your data:
1. Don’t call attention to yourself. Turn off the broadcast SSID function.
2. Change your name. Don’t make your network name obvious; change the default name and then change it every
few months.
3. Scramble your data. Use an encryption tool (i.e. WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy).
4. Telecommute through a tunnel. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which creates a “tunnel” between your laptop and
your office only. The tunnel is fortified with better encryption than WEP. All versions of Windows XP include the desktop
software required to connect a VPN.

Other suggestions:

Don’t store credit card information or online bank account information on your computer.
Use Anti-virus software.
Turn off file-sharing.
Scan for spyware with software such as “Spybot Search & Destroy” which can be downloaded for free from the
Internet. Do a search on “spybot software.”
Change passwords frequently.