Keeping some things on laptop private?

[you know]

I use a laptop with windows 7. I am not advanced when it comes to computers but I can usually bang my way around and get things done.

I am in an interesting situation. My religious philosophies have changed. I went the open and honest approach with my wife and so far it has been an EPIC FAIL! One of the most damaging things was she accessed some of my personal writings. She feels betrayed about some of the things I wrote, and I feel betrayed that she breached my privacy and dug into my deepest soul. I have no problem sharing my deepest soul with her, but it must be on my terms and when she is ready, right now she IS NOT! Enough of my personal situation, on to the Tech question.

I'd like to keep my computer open to scrutiny, but keep some things hidden and private. I am concerned with histories, such as the recently opened lists in programs and so forth.

Wife is not very computer savvy, and previously respected my privacy, I was careless with my writings so she did not have to dig deep to find, but I am concerned, I have heard of women's meetings in other congregations where they teach them how to spy on their husbands computers (porn check). I want NO part of this!

So is there a simple and effective way to do this?

I'd prefer not to have something obvious like a password protected user log in to windows. But maybe that is the safest and easiest way to go? Does this keep other users from being able to access folders, view histories etc. from the password protected user?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[QuietDad]

Go Start/Control Panel/User Accounts. Put a password on your userid and create a limited acount for her and log off when ever you leave it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Like QuietDad said, just password that account for starters.

1. Worried about p0rn? Google Chrome - incongnito mode will browse without saving anything in the browser. Be aware, it doesn't stop the website from logging your visits...

2. Worried about local files? Truecrypt - encrypted file container. This will portion out a piece of your disk drive as file and encrypt it.

There is no "simple" way, but there's easy steps to take to secure things better. I take this a little further by encrypting ALL my storage drives with Truecrypt or LUKS. My browsers are set to delete everything when I close the browser.

Tell that holy rollin' wife to respect your privacy.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

There are a number of options:

- Gmail/Google Docs/Drive will keep your personal files private (from your wife, not Google). Do not install Google Drive to your PC, and do not leave Gmail logged in (Incognito mode is best).

- Use a Virtual Machine (eg, VirtualBox) for private things. Use a strong password for the user account, and encrypt the virtual OS drive. Hide/disguise the shortcut to start the VM, and you can even mimic the current Windows desktop and run fullscreen to appear normal. Do NOT leave it logged in or running when you leave the PC.

- Use a flash drive or cloud storage for personal files, and incognito mode for everything online. Uncheck privacy options under Taskbar and Start Menu Properties (warning: this may make your wife more suspicious).

- Boot into a USB Live Linux OS with persistent storage anytime you need privacy (eg, Puppy Linux created with LinuxLive USB Creator). Use a unique password for the user account, and keep a backup of the files on a separate drive or cloud service.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I'd prefer not to have something obvious like a password protected user log in to windows. But maybe that is the safest and easiest way to go? Does this keep other users from being able to access folders, view histories etc. from the password protected user?

Using a password protected Limited User Account does not protect the files if someone uses the Administrator account or a bootable OS (Linux Live). The drive can also be removed and accessed using another PC. It also increases suspicion, which would be really bad at this point.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Maybe you should just write a journal or something. I would expect password protecting your account would just make her assume the worst and be just as angry as reading what you wrote. Possibly using true crypt would work, since if she is not very computer savvy she might not find the files.

 

[Matt1970]

Just hide your folders somewhere. Back in the day we didn't have document and picture folders already set up by windows. Or maybe do what frozen tundra suggest and keep a journal, or maybe don't write down your thoughts at all.

 

[QuietDad]

It sounds like your both average users with a PC with one userid. Nothing short of storing what you don't want her to see on a flash drive that you remove when your not on the PC and setting your browser to delete tokens and history upon exit will prevent her from seeing it. Things guarded by a user account can be unlocked by the same user. By having seperate ID's, with hers being a limited account will prevent her from seeing your stuff. Period. Unless you create a separate folder that you store things in and it gets public permissions. If you want to be "fair", create a limited account for both of you and have a stranger set the password for the administrator. There is just no way to hide anything from the same account, just ways to make it annoying for someone else to get it.

 

[corkyg]

Put your sensitive files on a removable storage device and lock it up when you are not using it or keep it in your pocket.

 

[you know]

Thanks for the ideas. We don't share computers, typically mine is with me. The breach in privacy was minimal, she looked up my postings on a forum from her computer. I had shared that I had been posting on the forum, and even shared some of the things I had written, I didn't think she would see my user name and then go looking up my posts, but she did. She was emotionally distort (still is and I am too) at the time, and was a particularly bad time for here to see some of my views. I don't know if she would ever really snoop around on my computer, but, better safe than sorry.

The easiest way may be to have two log ins on my computer. One a guest style account , on which I do most of my stuff, the other an admin where I keep thing I'd like private. That would work well enough, and I could easily defend my actions by explaining that I have journal and other private items in the admin, and that I am willing to share any of it under the following conditions 1) she is in the frame of mind to be understanding, and 2) we go slow and let me explain everything.

I still think it would be best to go in "stealth" mode, Nothing to see here is way better than, yea, I've got stuff you cant see.

I like the thumb drive or even external hard drive idea, except it's not too convenient, plus the file names will probably still show up in the recently opened area, and if I keep wiping out histories, the red flag is up.

Truecrypt may be my best bet, then my files are always with me, but will they still show up in recent items?

 

[QuietDad]

You can always turn off the tracking of recent documents by right clicking on the start menu and taskbar and selecting Properties and digging around. But if you want to post things on the internet in a public forum under an ID she knows, short of locking her in a closet there is really NOTHING you can do. The issue here is your relationship and not technology. Security is an all or nothing thing, not this piece is hidden when shes on, but I get to see it.

 

[bononos]

Thanks for the ideas. We don't share computers, typically mine is with me. The breach in privacy was minimal, she looked up my postings on a forum from her computer. I had shared that I had been posting on the forum, and even shared some of the things I had written, I didn't think she would see my user name and then go looking up my posts, but she did. She was emotionally distort (still is and I am too) at the time, and was a particularly bad time for here to see some of my views. I don't know if she would ever really snoop around on my computer, but, better safe than sorry.

The easiest way may be to have two log ins on my computer. One a guest style account , on which I do most of my stuff, the other an admin where I keep thing I'd like private. That would work well enough, and I could easily defend my actions by explaining that I have journal and other private items in the admin, and that I am willing to share any of it under the following conditions 1) she is in the frame of mind to be understanding, and 2) we go slow and let me explain everything.

I still think it would be best to go in "stealth" mode, Nothing to see here is way better than, yea, I've got stuff you cant see.

I like the thumb drive or even external hard drive idea, except it's not too convenient, plus the file names will probably still show up in the recently opened area, and if I keep wiping out histories, the red flag is up.

Truecrypt may be my best bet, then my files are always with me, but will they still show up in recent items?

Big mistake telling your online nick (or did you use an abbreviation of your real name?). Now its going to be more difficult to continue posting even in a different forum and nick since she could probably piece together details.

I would use another login other than admin or guest (create another one) for your own private use. Only use admin for tasks needing admin privileges, it'll cut down the risk from malware problems. Keep the guest login for your wife if she needs to borrow your pc.

I don't think you need the hassle of truecrypt which makes more sense if you need to encrypt whole disks/partitions. There are private journal/diary apps. Or you could just encrypt individual folders, even if its just winzip/7z aes encryption.

One thing that hasn't been discussed is the possibility of snooping malware like loggers planted to track your online activities.

 

[Dr. Canny]

You could try out steganography. It's the process of hiding files behind an image.

After downloading and installing WinRar, get the image you want to hide the file behind, and the file you want to hide. Put both of the files in the same directory. I suggest My Documents. Then right click the file you want to hide and click on 'Add to Archive.' Change the name of the archive to personalwritings.rar or something, and press 'OK.' Then open up command prompt by clicking the start menu, and searching cmd. You then to change the directory to the directory the files are in. You can do this by typing cd c:\MyDocuments. Then type this -------- copy /b image.jpg + personalwritings.rar hiddenwritings.jpg ------------- Exclude all of the hyphens. You can also change the last 'hiddenwritings.jpg' to whatever you would like the hidden image to be called.

So now when someone goes to the folder with the image in it they will just see the image. But if you want to open the file behind the image, you can right click on the image and click 'Open With....WinRAR.'

Don't forget to delete your original personal writings out of My Documents. Good Luck! Hope that helps.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Truecrypt may be my best bet, then my files are always with me, but will they still show up in recent items?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/clear-lists-on-the-start-menu-and-taskbar



To set no recently viewed files. right click on the Start icon, choose properties, then look for these options:

 

[John Connor]

Truecrypt containers and Ccleaner. Use Firefox and chose the option private browsing mode. You can name a truecrypt container anything like stuff.rax.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Ccleaner. Use Firefox and chose the option private browsing mode.

You could even set Firefox to Always use private browsing mode, but either way suspicion levels will likely be elevated.

 

[ch33zw1z]

You could even set Firefox to Always use private browsing mode, but either way suspicion levels will likely be elevated.

You gotta breach the trust right back to make her feel it too. you know, rummage through her purse when she's within earshot, then act all surprised when she comes to see what you're doing

 

[AnonymouseUser]

You gotta breach the trust right back to make her feel it too. you know, rummage through her purse when she's within earshot, then act all surprised when she comes to see what you're doing

I've been down that road before, and it led to a divorce. She snooped on my PC, so I snooped back, and what I found was damning...

 

[ch33zw1z]

I've been down that road before, and it led to a divorce. She snooped on my PC, so I snooped back, and what I found was damning...

sorry dude, not trying to dredge up old memories for ya.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

sorry dude, not trying to dredge up old memories for ya.

Oh it's all good. We've both moved on and I'm happier without her.

 

[you know]

I've been using truecrypt and really like it and feel comfortable with it...too bad I started using it too late!

Now I am super paranoid about some sort of spyware, thinking maybe she set something up to take periodic screenshots or something. Unfortunately setting log in passwords would be a red flag, so I turn the lap top off anytime I'm not using it, then when I log on I check Event Viewer to see when the last log off time was, just to make sure no one logged on while I was away or asleep. But I still fret that there may already be spyware. Is there any way to tell? Would a hidden operating system work for what I need to do? Or maybe someway to not have a login password, but require passwords to install new programs? that way she could not install a spyware program, but I wouldn't have the log on password red flag.

What about my android phone. Basically I do a "factory Data Reset" before I do any questionable internet searches. Does this even ensure that if there is spyware installed it is removed? Is there a way to do something like event viewer in windows to see if someone has been on it while I'm asleep?

I am super paranoid, and probably fretting over nothing, but I'd like to be sure.

 

[John Connor]

Why don't you add a password to the hard drive though BIOS and that way she can't get on. Unless she uses it too.

 

[mikeymikec]

If I wanted a high level of security, I would go with truecrypt. In one case I wanted something easier/quicker, so I used an obscurely-named and password protected WinRAR archive in an obscure location.

I'm vaguely aware that zip file password protection is trivial to overcome, I'm less sure about rar file password protection, hence a bit of security through obscurity.

@ Dr. Canny

Cool idea, I'll have to give that a try at some point.

 

[jolancer]

copy /b image.jpg + personalwritings.rar hiddenwritings.jpg

simple but i never heard of it before. thx for the reference

to the OP: I'm not familiar with win7, maybe similar or the same, however I'm sure someone familiar can clarify if not the same... but on winXP...

winXP.. the Administrator account is always there but hidden by default. and the user account created on install is allowed most admin privledges. you can simply create another user account that mimics the original, even if the new account has admin privledges you can set folders in your current account as private so they cannot be opened by other users, and you can also set them to be hidden so they arn't visible by default.

In XP, i think if I set the attributes of a folder in an admin account to 'Hidden' + 'System', a limited user can't even see it because its marked as a system folder. In XP from the command prompts its something like.. >attrib +H +S "C:\path\folder" /D ...but also i think you'd have to go to the security tab in the folders properties/security/advanced and remove the other limited user from any access rights.

and in XP, i know you can go into the registry and Hide any User account from showing at Log in, So they wouldn't even know your other user account exists. In that case at log in screen you'd have to hold 'ctrl+alt' and hit 'delete' twice, to bring up the manual log in screen, then you have to type the hidden user name and password.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide
Set its value to 0
If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1

Thats its instruction in XP, google or someone can elaborate for win7... but ofcourse this way does not secure your files like truecrypte or whatnot... it just makes you designated folder and account loggin invisible to your own OS and anyone non-computer savey logged into your other decoy limited user account.

 

[jtang]

Put your sensitive files on a removable storage device and lock it up when you are not using it or keep it in your pocket.

I like the simplicity of your method , and well said at the end