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Techno Files
Computers can leave unwanted cyber trail

By Riley Gay

Don’t look now, but someone may be watching you.

Don’t bother looking over your shoulder, though. Just about anyone can see where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to without resorting to anything so covert.

The fact is that it’s all right there on your computer.

And for businesses concerned about security, or anyone who values privacy, leaving a digital trail could be a real problem.

Ironically, this state of affairs is mostly a result of good intentions.

In an effort to make its Windows operating system more “user friendly”, Microsoft has sacrificed privacy and security to make access to your most frequently used data more convenient. Thanks to the folks in Redmond, it’s a simple matter to review your Internet history, for example, as well as to view whatever documents you’ve recently accessed. They’ve not only made it easier for you, but for anyone else with access to your computer.

Moreover, if you go with the default settings in Windows XP, any interested party can see which applications and programs you’ve been making use of lately. That could be a problem for some corporate workers who may not want their bosses to know that their most frequently accessed programs are Tetris and Solitaire.

And unless you’re in the habit of emptying your Recycle Bin on a regular basis, deleted items are, by design, incredibly easy to retrieve.

On top of all that, Microsoft’s email client, Outlook Express, stores deleted email in a separate folder instead of simply making it disappear, just in case you may change your mind after tossing it out.

Fortunately, as a Windows PC user, there’s a lot that you can do to cover your tracks, and Microsoft has courteously provided most of the tools you’ll need to do it. Though there may be some differences depending on which version of Windows you’re currently using, these tools are generally fairly easy to find and apply.

If you use Window’s browser to navigate the Internet, your journey is tracked and recorded in a special folder, and can be recalled by clicking on the History menu in Internet Explorer. You can erase this record using the “Clear history” button on the Internet Options applet in the Control Panel. A faster way to access this applet is by right-clicking the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop and choosing Properties, or by selecting the Tools menu within Internet Explorer itself. You can also use this location to tell Windows how long to keep track of your Web surfing history – from 100 days all the way down to 0. Choosing 0 effectively turns off the History feature.

If you’re using Netscape as your Internet browser, choosing Preferences from the Edit menu and selecting History under the Navigator heading will let you specify how long your History should be kept. You can also click Clear History and Clear Location Bar, in some versions of Windows, to immediately erase your surfing history.

Clearing your history alone, though, doesn’t remove all record of your Internet activity. In order to speed up access to Web sites, Internet Explorer caches every page you’ve visited to your hard drive, so that it can load them more quickly when you return. Someone intent on spying could, very easily, track your Web surfing habits by rummaging through the folder containing these files. To ensure privacy, clear the Temporary Internet Files cache by clicking on the “Delete files” button in the Internet Options applet after you’ve finished surfing. Or you can tell Internet Explorer to delete Temporary Internet Files automatically every time it closes by going to the Advanced tab in the Internet Options Window and checking the box under the Security section that says "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed."

By default, Windows places shortcuts to recently accessed files in your “My Documents” folder for speedy retrieval. To remove entries from the Documents folder, including entries made in IE’s address bar and those made in the Run dialog box, open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog in the Control Panel, and click the "clear” button on the Advanced tab. A quicker way to open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box is by right-clicking a blank area on the taskbar, and then selecting Properties.

But clearing all of these entries every time you reboot could become tedious. So, wouldn’t it be easier, and more secure, if you could automate the process? This can be done using TweakUI, a little tool created by Microsoft, which the developer somehow neglected to include with the Windows OS. This program will allow you to change a number of settings that would normally require more computer know-how than the average user might possess. By installing TweakUI and simply checking a box on its “IE” tab, for example, you can tell Windows to automatically clear all document, run, and address bar entries every time you shut down or reboot your computer. TweakUI can be an invaluable addition to your personal toolbox and is available as a free download from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys. 

There are also a few simple steps you can take to keep your email activity private, as well. One is to get into the habit of not only removing messages from your Inbox and Sent Items folders, but also erasing discarded messages from the Deleted Items folder. This task can be automated from within Window’s mail program by clicking on Tools/Options on the Outlook Express menu bar, and checking the appropriate box on the Maintenance tab. You can also tell Outlook Express to dispose of your sent messages simply by unchecking a box on the Send tab.

America Online users should open Mail Preferences in the Mail Center to make sure the boxes telling AOL to “retain read and sent mail” are not checked.

In the corporate environment, where keeping data private and secure is mission critical, it’s important to be aware that simply deleting a file from your hard drive doesn’t, by itself, make it cease to exist. Although it might appear to be gone, the data is still there on your hard drive, recoverable with any of several readily available utilities, such as OnTrack’s Easy Recovery, or Undelete from Executive Software.

For businesses concerned with corporate espionage, or for an individual donating a personal computer to an organization or selling a used machine, having a quick and easy way to irretrievably banish sensitive data is a must.

To make certain your deleted data is truly gone for good, the simplest solution is to purchase a third-party data-erasing program. Wipe Info, included with Symantec’s Norton Utilities suite, can handle this task. DataEraser, from OnTrack, will serve the same purpose.

These days, it seems, your privacy and security are frequently under attack. Whether you’re a business or individual, taking steps to cover your digital tracks is at least one thing you can do to protect both from assault.

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