Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 13, 2009

How Can I Find Out What Information About Me Is Posted Online, and Can I Remove It?

Filed under: Internet,privacy & security — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Have you ever “Googled” someone? It’s easy. Just visit your favorite search engine, such as Google.com, and type their first and last names into the search box, preferable encased in quotation marks in order to exclude pages that happen to have the first and last name in some other order. In a matter of seconds, you have a list of links to pages that include your friend’s name. If your friend has an uncommon name, you can be pretty sure you’ve got the right person. Now imagine your friend Googling you. If the thought of that makes you nervous, maybe you’d better Google yourself and see just what’s out there. You may be surprised to find that 10-year-old discussion forum post you made is still lingering online, even though you’ve moved on to completely different things.
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January 21, 2009

Deleting Your History on the Computer or Internet

Filed under: Internet,privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Say you don’t want your spouse or parents to know where you’ve been surfing because you’ve been shopping online for birthday presents. Or perhaps you work for the CIA and don’t even want your password-protected, biometrically accessed, triple-DES encrypted personal computer to know what you’ve been working on. You need to erase your tracks; delete the recorded history of your computer activity.

History is convenient. Windows, by default, keeps track of files you have opened. When you open the Start menu in Windows XP, you will find a list of them under My Recent Documents; just click on one to open it and start working again. Separately, Web browsers keep track of URLs you have visited so you can just type a few letters of one to pull it up and click to go there, instead of re-entering the whole thing. That’s great, but so can anyone who has access to your computer. If that thought makes you uncomfortable, here is how to minimize or eliminate your history.
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