Computer questions

[Bboy]

I know it's out there but can anyone tell me where to get the software, or provide advice, on how to clean up your computer from all the past internet sites, downloaded pic files (deleted) etc...ya know just in case her curiosity gets the better of her!

Plus is there a way to track someone's IP address and exactly what info would you get from that?

Maybe stupid questions but this is how ya learn.

 

[Teddybear]

really deleting files...

you can get a free download from tucows.com that will perform a much more thorough scrub of your "empty" memory...but keep in mind that unless you are a security guru, or you set your hardrive on fire and scatter the ashes from a plane, there will almost ALWAYS be some incriminating stuff on your computer if you have surfed, downloaded or printed (why do so many people forget the spooling file is a record of whatever you sent to the printer?) a file.

the easier way out of this is to answer her daily "so what did you do today" question with "mostly surfed porn sites." Then, when she finds something on your computer, you have the advantage of having always been truthful. You then get her with the " I also assumed that you weren't so close minded, prudish and judgemental, but apparently i was wrong" line. you'll still end up in a dog house, but she won't know why after the first day, and will probably reprieve the sentence

 

[Big Papa Smurf]

I had the same problem with my ex-girlfriend. She hated the fact that I would download jpegs and mpegs of Patricia Ford. Here is what I did. If you have Windows then this is what you could do.

Hiding files and images:

* Select the file you want to hide
* right click the file you want hidden and select PROPERTIES
*then in the ATTRIBUTES section put a check mark in the box labelled HIDDEN and then click OK
* Next, click on START. You will get a pull-up window.
*select SETTINGS then another pull-up window opens
*select FOLDER OPTIONS then click
*You will get another pop-up window with three categories at the top (general, views, file types)
*select VIEW. Then click on the circle beside DO NOT SHOW HIDDEN FILES
*Then select APPLY, then OK

This will hide any files that you don't want her to see. If you want to view your files then click START and do the same procedure after except select VIEW ALL FILES.
To eliminate internet history:

*click on START
*select SETTINGS then a pull-up window appears
*select CONTROL PANEL and click
*select INTERNET OPTIONS
*click on DELETE FILES
*click on CLEAR HISTORY and set the number to 1 day.

This procedure should be done after you finish viewing or downloading from a site. It will eliminate everything that you have previously looked at. You can delete your cookies as well to eliminate any trace of your viewing habits; however, I would STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST IT! Unless, you are 100% certain of which cookies belong to which sites then by all means delete the cookies. If you delete all your cookies you will not be able to get into your accounts on other sites(ie:E-bay, Amazon, TERB, Hotmail). Instead block certain sites from giving you cookies.

To block cookies:

*next select PRIVACY at the top of the pop-up window and click
*drag the block on the meter to HIGH or BLOCK ALL COOKIES
*click on APPLY and then click OK

This eliminates the chance that those sites can read your personal data. This procedure only has to be done once.


I suggest that you create a folder and put all your downloaded files in there and then hide it. If your significant other is a computer expert then you will get caught. However, if she is a novice or semi-literate then you shouldn't have a problem. If you want more ideas like hiding files in your Windows system files or creating huge sub-directories to hide your files PM me.

 

[alliwantislove]

If you want to GET RID of EVERYTHING use the recovery CDs which probably came with the computer.

Bob

 

[Remo]

hah hah Ripped you are are evil. But that will do exactly what he said it will. Buy Evidence Eliminator. It is the best for what you want. Thats what it was designed for.

 

[Bboy]

thanks Remo. Yea Ripped like I was almost about to type that in when the light went on!

 

[Jamm]

To track IP's

PM me , and I can show a site where to download to how track IP's but you have to very careful what you are doing or else it may damaged some of your software.

 

[anotherhappy]

A suggestion:

If you share your computer, installing a small browser like Opera avoids all kinds of history and cache issues. As a bonus, Opera makes it quite easy to configure proxies.

I'd suggest installing Opera into some odd directory, like

C:\Program Files\Accessories\

and not leaving shortcuts to it in your start menu or on the desktop.

You might want to set it up to clear all cache on exit, because a computer savvy nosey sort might run a FIND: *.jpg on your computer.

 

[Bboy]

thanks for all the info guys. One more quick question, since I can't find it myself, how do you password protect a disc, or a file folder on a disk - cd or floppy?

 

[i_am_good]

secrets...

Bboy,

You cannot password protect just any file. The program used to create the file (i.e. you can use Word to create a .doc file) must have that functionality already there.

You can password protect a folder if folder sharing is enabled. You would also have to setup login credentials.

As for the other stuff, there might be software out there that might help.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

To hide your files I would suggest using some form of encryption. Then even if she finds them she will never know what she found exactly.

I had this program a few years ago that created a virtual drive on your system that would mount when you wanted to use it and operate just like any other drive. Then you could unmount it and everything on it would be encrypted @ a minimum of 1024 bit with the blowfish crypto algorithim, then it made it into a file and cut the file up and hid it among various innocent images on your hd. It was very slick, pretty much impossible to detect, theoretically impossible to crack the crypto, and fun.

I think they suggested that Al-Qaeda used a similar system to hide and encrypt their files (the hiding in image files thing). It's a neat trick, storing bits in the color profiles of .jpg and other image sources. The difference in color in the affected images is unnoticeable to the human eye, but it's there...

I'll get the name of the program and a link to it and post it here.

 

[alliwantislove]

Encryption Program

I think that Dr. Gonzo refers to a product named BestCrypt from Jetico (www.jetico.com). I use it a lot and I've never had a problem with it. But it does straightforward encryption - not "information hiding". (But I thought that the guy who started this thread wanted to get rid of his stuff, not hide it?)

One nice feature is that since it is providing an entire (virtual) drive even the file and directory names are not visible.

Bob

 

[anotherhappy]

If you are running Windows 2000 or XP you can set permissions on folders. That should be enough to stop casual snooping.

If you'd like something a little more industrial-strength, I've heard that this good (and free) PGPdisk. As pointed out though, this doesn't hide the fact that the data exists- someone could still find the encrypted volume, and know that you have something secrety on your hard drive. Another down side is that the encrypted volume is usually set to a certain size before you put any data in it. What that means is that if you're thinking you might have end up with 2 gigs of pr0n, you'll need to create a 2Gb encrypted volume, and lose 2 gigs of free space from your hard drive, before you even save a single secret file.

 

[Bboy]

Man learning a lot here. You can probably tell I just let the techs at work take care of everything. To clarify, I'm not storing anything on the hard drive anymore just on a CD and floppy disk. So I was looking to password protect them somehow. Also I should've just said prying eyes, as the she is my neice who loves to play on my computer when she visits. Given enough time she can find anything.
But hey keep the suggestions coming.
thanks again everyone.

 

[kilohurts]

PGP is great for because of a few features.

First it has a utility that allows you to write over the already erased info on your disks/drives. Remember if you "erase" something from your drive, the information is still there; it’s just that your system doesn't "know" how to access it. PGP will see all the erased space (with all of your www.treb.ca HTML files and such) and actually write "0"s over the space. For the "even more cautious" you can select the number of times PGP will wipe the space from your drive. The idea is similar to recording over the same space on an audiotape with a new recording. The more times you re-record the better you destroy the original copy.

PGP also allows you to create Self Decrypting Archives (SDA). These nifty files are the equivalent of encrypted, password protected zip files. It’s great for those files that you want to keep secure. The function is similar to WinZip. You can select *any* file you want to encrypt and bundle them into one file.

If you are looking for a good utility to track IP addresses download Sam Spade ( http://www.samspade.org/ ). It's an excellent utility. Its easy to use and can give you a wealth of information.

PM me if you need any other info.

Kilo

 

[Gentle Ben]

a freind of mine, when he was married actually had another hard drive that he would use for surfing, when wife was away, he would switch the drives and do his surfing .
Maybe a bit complicated or difficult for shorter surfing sessions, but , never had to worry about unwanted files getting found.
Now that I think of it, I believe he had a removable hard drive tray .

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

The software I was refering to was called ScramDisk, I believe. Think it might be available from tucows, otherwise just do a search. Unless your wife/gf is an NSA-trained cryptanalyst you should have no worries. As I recall you can set about 4 unique passwords to access your 1024-bit key, making the odds a little more astronomical (as if they needed to be)....

 

[2sexxxy]

Does anybody know how to clear the history thingy when you search for something? Example everything that I have ever tried to search on dogpile is still there.

Thanxxx

 

[anotherhappy]

2Sexxxy: If you're using IE, try 'Tools, Internet Options, Content, Autocomplete, Clear forms button and/or Clear passwords.

Still, if you're using IE, there's a lot of tracks to cover (not to mention dealing with pop-up windows) so IMHO you're better off installing a personal web-browser, like Opera or Mozzilla.

 

[2sexxxy]

Thanks buddy, the first thing worked perfectly.