Maintaining computer privacy is tricky. It's almost impossible to avoid leaving some trace or other that an expert can't find.
If you aren't too worried about experts, but are more worried about family members or colleagues who might notice something in the Explorer address bar, or in your cache, then there are a number of free utilities that can help. The one I use is called CleanUp! You can get it from here:
http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/
Run CleanUp after you've visited sites you don't want others to know you've been to.
Some other tips:
If you aren't too worried about experts, but are more worried about family members or colleagues who might notice something in the Explorer address bar, or in your cache, then there are a number of free utilities that can help. The one I use is called CleanUp! You can get it from here:
http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/
Run CleanUp after you've visited sites you don't want others to know you've been to.
Some other tips:
- If you are using Google Desktop, be sure to configure it so that it doesn't index Web pages you visit -- otherwise, it'll keep a cache of those pages you don't want others to see and they may show up inadvertantly when you do a Desktop Search
- If you use Yahoo Messenger, be sure to turn of the message archiving feature.
- Stick to browser-based email for your private correspondence.
- Set up a separate email account with a large provider like Yahoo, providing the least amount of personal info possible.
- Use an email anonymizer for greater privacy; e.g. www.anonymizer.com
- Use a router (to get the hardware-firewall benefits of Network Address Translation) and up to date AntiVirus and Spyware software.
