Sometimes we just have to use a public computer, whether it is in school, the library, coffee shops, airports, or wherever. This does not mean our online safety be jeopardized. Here are 10 tips on using a public computer safely. Bottom line is do not enter anything sensitive on a public computer.
Do you know what computer programs are on your computer? More important, do you know the registration keys? If a virus destroyed your computer could you reinstall all the software without the hassle of finding the registration keys? This scenario happens all the time. If you lose your registration key and did not register the software the only alternative may be to repurchase the software. Not a fun idea.
Belarc advisors have a free software inventory product that lists out an inventory of your computer. Not only are the registration keys included but software versions, installed Microsoft hotfixes, hardware, and virus protection. If any hotfix is missing you will know it. Best of all, according to Belarc’s privacy notice, this information remains private: the data is only kept on your computer and not sent back to Belarc or anywhere else.
Mysecurepc recommends running and saving the software inventory every month or every time a major piece of software is installed. And keep the inventory page backed up.
Getting rid of a computer or a hard drive? Does it have sensitive data on it? Just deleting it does not do the job. Even reformatting the hard drive is not good enough.
Deleted data is simple to recover, especially in Windows XP. A data recovery program, often free, is all that is needed to undelete data. What can be done to ensure that prying eyes will never see your data?
Plenty.
Boot and nuke an open source program will completely wipe out any data on a hard drive. It is a dangerous program (i.e. there is no turning back once it erases) so be careful in using it. It meets the DOD (Dept of Defense) requirements for complete eradication of data. A bootable disk or CD is created then the computer in question is booted up and goodbye data.
Some entities such as some government agencies and private parties use drastic measures such as saws, sledge hammers, and grinders to ensure no data is left behind. While this may do the job the hard drive cannot be used again…it is off to the land fill.
There is an easier way to get rid of your data but still be able to reuse the hard drive. In Windows XP you can encrypt all your data files, reformat the drive and you are done. This erases the encryption file keys forever. Perhaps the encrypted files can be recovered but without the decryption key all is lost.
Don’t forget to securely destroy CD/DVDs used to store data. Several paper shredders have a feature for chopping up a CD/DVD. We do not think this is a good enough solution. Once the CD/DVD is chopped up, separate it into several piles and dispose of them separately.
Doug
Over 600,000 laptops were reported stolen last year…probably a lot more were. To help mitigate the chances of your portable being a statistic, check out laptop security. Many tips and suggestions are given on protecting your laptop.
Doug
