delete - then delete AGAIN!!

[Guest123017]

Sooooo...

A buddy of mine had some 'photos' (local providers he had seen) on his laptop and 'deleted' them, so he thought. His wife's computer crashed so she was using his in the interim. When she accidentally deleted a document she was working on, she went into the recycle bin to retrieve it where she discovered a bunch of .jpg images. Claims she thought he was deleting photos of them and opened them up to see. Lots of 'discussions' happening over there now.

Obviously if he had known to go to the recycle bin and empty this may have never happened. But. It did get me thinking. Am I as safe as I can be? What precautions do you all take to ensure the images, search history, internet activity, you have on your computer are safe? I spend a lot of time on the internet, on eccie, and on some other sites too. I have a few images of providers I have taken when with them (yes, as part of my contribution). These are saved in a folder within a folder within a folder etc). Are they safe?

Just curious. And thanks in advance for anything you can share.

Hobby's gotta be safe to be good!

[WhiteGentleman]

Safest solution is to have a separate phone and tablet for the hobby that your SO doesn't know about. Deleting files off a computer, even emptying the trash bin, doesn't necessarily destroy the data, although there is shredder software available that will do that.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387179,00.asp

[Danlen33]

If you're on Windows 7 there's an option to make a folder "hidden." Right click it, select properties, and under attributes check hidden. That will make the folder invisible unless you go check an option in the control panel.

For that option:
Control Panel->Appearance and Customization->Folder Options->Show hidden files and folders->Check the box that says "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"

I imagine there's a similar option on other versions of Windows.

[royamcr]

ccleaner is a good program. Used to be called Crap Cleaner.

[Kshunter]

Or just leave them in the cloud and don't have them on the laptop at all.

[Unique_Carpenter]

I disagree with several thoughts above.
1st, no one should have has access, basic password use.

2nd, most "decent" internet anti-virus software can scrub your history and memory. And decent is not the free stuff.
roymcr mentions ccleaner which has a good rep. But it doesn't shred deleted items.
WhiteGentleman's link is a good reference. This is what I'm talking about. For file deletes, the file remains and only the space index is deleted, until the file itself is overwritten by something else. Even then fragments can remain. So folks should have a "shred/wipe" piece of software that will "overwrite" all blank/empty spots on a disc. This is a common feature in any software that claims "dod" spec for that.

3rd, most software techs can get anything off of a machine, unless the space previously occupied by deleted files is actually entirely overwritten. I have family law attys as clients/friends and it's amusing what they can have a tech find even when someone thinks they have scrubbed a machine.

By the way, anything left in the cloud is liable to be seen by the cloud's admin. And, most folks set up their cloud to simply be a drive on their machine, so...

Last, a good tech can unhide any folder on any machine.

So...
Even though no one has access to my machines, yes more than one, (and I have older scrubbed machines that the kids use), memory/cache/history/etc are all programmed to wipe each time the machine is cycled down. Yes a bit of software, that empties trash also.
Once a week I run a full "blank space" overwrite with other software (dod quality).
Why?
I have client stuff.
I could care less about hobby stuff, but the same rules apply.

So just set it up and explain to the SO that it's anti-virus stuff.

[FiddleSticks]

Shift+Delete = Permanent Delete

[Unique_Carpenter]

Originally Posted by FiddleSticks

Shift+Delete = Permanent Delete

Shift delete just bypasses the recycle bin, and just marks it as usable space by the OS. To actually "erase" the actual section of disk where stuff was, that still needs to be overwritten.

[gyrfalcone]

Use GlaryUtilities to shred files and clean history. Download it from filehippo or majorgeeks. To keep you pics safe. Hide the folder and encrypt the folder that way, only the password holder can open the folder. BTW recuva from piriform is an excellent recovery program which will receive all kinds of files!
that were deleted. Also downloadable from majorgeeks and filehippo

[pmdelites]

using computers will leave lots of stuff behind that you have to take care to delete completely.

1. as mentioned, deleting a file just moves it to the recycle bin [if you have that option turned on for the drive the file is on]. so, empty the recycle bin before you finish your computer/web activities.

2. as mentioned, an option is to shred the file. here's a nice one i've used for years
http://www.fileshredder.org ... after you install it, start it up, drag files onto it, then shred.

3. do you copy/paste text and/or images? then you need to clear out the clipboard. go into a text editor, Word, Powerpoint, and/or image editor, press Cntl-V or select the Paste function. there! that's what needs to be cleaned up. select all, type anything else, select all of the new text again, press Cntl-C or select the Copy function. you've just placed that on your clipboard. [some clipboards keep the x most recent copy or cut operations - watch out].

4. did you clean up your browser's history? if not, do so before you leave. or use the private browsing mode.

5. did you save an image from your browser to a folder on your computer? unless you have a diff option set, the browser will remember the last folder you saved to. guess what someone will see the next time they save an image? all those pics of pussies and blowjobs.

6. did you use an application to edit, view, save something? that document will be in your computer's Recent Items (most recently used or MRU) list. and those docs will show up in the apps most recently opened docs list. use something like CCleaner or Advanced System Care to remove stuff from the MRU list and other places.

CCleaner - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
ASC - http://www.iobit.com/en/advancedsystemcarefree.php is the free version; they have a paid one, too

be safe rather than sorry.

[b4life]

Doesn't really matter if they can go to your ISP and see where you've gone through them? As long as they have your IP address everywhere you've gone is trackable if its gone through the ISPs servers. Not even sure an onion browser would stop a search as long as they have your phone or router information.

[Unique_Carpenter]

Except that ISP's have filled days doing that for LEO who use court orders, etc.
Almost all ISP's have their policies on releasing that data posted, and it's rare that casual requests will get processed.

[gyrfalcone]

proxy your browser with Tor browser or Horndt or otherthat will hop many times. that is what is done in other countries to prevent tracking of IPs. Or use a linux distro Tails is known to be best for security and hidding who you are.