By DPA
Washington : Most of the privacy threats we hear about are from anonymous “hackers” or unnamed forces waiting to swoop via an Internet connection and steal our data or personal information. But many people have privacy concerns that are closer to home.
While the outside threats do exist, it’s probably far more likely that a friend, guest, colleague, or family member will see information on your computer that you had not intended to share.
How can you tighten security at home or the office? Read on for some answers.
Q: My wife regularly uses my Vista computer, but I have a folder of documents I would like to keep secure. Can I hide a particular folder from others?
A: Yes. There are a number of programs available online that claim to hide folders or files for you. A simple web search for Hide Folders will turn up names like Lock Folder XP and Hide My Folders. Such programs can potentially cause problems, however, with the operating system and with other utilities that may work at the file-system level, such as backup and anti-virus applications.
A simpler and certainly less expensive alternative is to use the hide feature that’s built into all recent versions of Windows. To test it out, create a folder called test, and copy some discardable files in it.
Open Windows Explorer, right-click the folder, and select Properties from the pop-up menu. On the General tab of the resulting Properties dialog box, you’ll see a check box labelled Hidden in the Attributes section. Select the Hidden check box, and click OK.
The folder will disappear, unless you have set up Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders. You change this setting by opening the Tools menu (Alt-T), selecting Folder Options, clicking the View tab, and then selecting the “Show hidden files and folders” option button.
Q: On my Windows XP Start menu, there’s a Documents entry that lists all of the documents I have opened recently. How can I get rid of that so that someone using my computer cannot see at a glance which documents I’ve been working on?
A: It’s easy. Just right-click your Start menu, and click Properties. In the resulting Properties dialog box, click the Customise button, and then click the Advanced tab. In the Recent Documents section, clear the check box labelled “List my most recently used documents”, and click OK until you’re out of the Properties dialog box.
Q: My biggest security problem is passwords. I use the same password for everything, and my family members know it. So although I visit a lot of sites that require me to enter my password, they’re not really secure. I refuse to use multiple passwords because I’ll forget them. Is there a better way?
A: Passwords are indeed a double-edged sword for many people. They’re supposed to provide a level of security, but the best passwords are too easily forgotten.
A good solution to this problem comes in the form of fingerprint readers found on some keyboards today – or available as standalone devices. Microsoft, for instance, makes a reasonably priced keyboard with a built-in fingerprint reader.
To use these products, you typically first install the device and accompanying software. Then you register your fingerprint by touching the integrated fingerprint reader.
From that point on, whenever you visit a site that requires a user name and password, you touch the fingerprint reader, enter a user name and password, and that data is stored by the software so that you never have to enter it again. Instead, on subsequent visits, you simply touch the fingerprint reader, and you’re in. You can even enter your Windows logon password that way.