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Windows XP keeps track of activities that you do on your computer. It records the Web sites that you visit, the addresses that you type in, the applications that you launch, and even the files that you open. Why does it do this? The majority of the information is used to tailor your computer experience and power features such as the frequently run programs or recently run documents lists. These features can be very useful and save you time. Other activities, such as typing in addresses for Web sites, are also logged. This information is used to save you time when you are typing in addresses at a later time. As you type in part of the address, possible suggestions based on your history will appear. However, this is not always the best. This information, combined with the useless browser history, will allow anyone to see what you browse on the Web. Because of the vast amounts of information that Windows XP records, your privacy can become at stake when others are using your computer. This chapter will show you how to clean all of the recorded data from your computer. Additionally, you will learn to protect your privacy further by taking advantage of some interesting features of XP.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is one of the most difficult parts of Windows to clean because it stores its data all over your drive, which makes clearing the data a little more tricky because you can’t just clear one folder. Basically, four different parts of Internet Explorer need to be cleaned to ensure that you maintain your privacy: clearing recent addresses, removing history files, erasing temporary Web files, and removing cookies. The first part of this section will show you exactly how to clean those parts. The second part of this section will show you how you can protect your privacy further by using a great utility and disabling some extra unnecessary features.

Removing address bar suggestions

Windows XP, like other versions of Windows, includes a feature called AutoComplete that is always activated for the address box. This can be a convenient feature because it can help you when typing in an address by presenting you with various suggestions. The suggestions are based upon your address box history. As you can see, because of this feature, your privacy can be at risk. When I start typing www.Twea in my address bar, it automatically suggests TweakXP.com - Windows XP Tweaks, Tips, Hacks, Visual Styles, Support, and Software, because I have visited that site. Anyone who uses my computer and starts typing addresses in manually can see sites that I have visited. If they just type in www.c or www.t, they will be presented with a small list of all the sites that I have visited that have URLs that start with c or t.

How do you stop the suggestions? You have to go after the source. Unfortunately, this effort can be a little tricky. The file that stores this information is called the URL cache and is named index.dat. This file resides in your Cookies directory within Documents and Settings. To remove information that Windows records, you just have to delete the file. However, deleting this file is not as easy as deleting normal files. The URL cache file is always in use when the operating system is running. And because it is impossible to delete files that are in use, the only way to delete this file is to delete the file in Safe mode or when the system is loading. One solution to this dilemma is to use a nifty utility called Dr. Delete, which will help you schedule the file to be deleted the next time that your computer restarts. Follow these steps to delete the index.dat file with Dr. Delete:

1. Visit Dr. Delete’s Web site, located at www.docsdownloads.com/dr-delete.htm, and download a copy of Dr. Delete.

2. Once you have downloaded a copy of Dr. Delete and have it running, click the Browse button to specify the file that you want to delete.

3. Navigate to the C:\Document and Settings folder.

4. Then expand the folder that is named after your User Name.

5. Expand the Cookies folder and then select the index.dat file.

6. Click Open when you have the file selected.

7. Once you see the path of the file in the text box, click the Delete! button, as shown in Figure 14-1.

8. Click Yes on the confirmation screen.

9. You will be shown a message that says that the file will be deleted after the next reboot. Reboot your computer now to delete the file.

Once your computer reboots, the file will be deleted and the URL cache will be cleared.

Clearing visited Web sites history

Internet Explorer, by default, is configured to record all of the Web sites that you visit for a 30 day period. If you are concerned about your privacy, your browsing history should be cleaned frequently and history settings configured best for privacy. Doing so will ensure that any user of your computer will not be able to easily see what you have been doing. Keep in mind, however, that if you get rid of the browser history, you will eliminate the ability to use the history to go back to Web sites for which you might have forgotten the URL.



FIGURE 14-1: Using Dr. Delete to delete the URL cache file.

That use is really the only reason I can think of that makes the browser history useful. If you can live without that convenience, then follow these steps to clear your history from your Computer:

1. Open up a copy of Internet Explorer by using either the icon on the desktop or on the Start panel.

2. Once Internet Explorer is open, click the Tools menu bar item and select Internet Options.

3. Then, just click the Clear History button, as shown in Figure 14-2.

4. Your history will now be cleared. Because you still have Internet Options open on your screen, adjust the amount of days that your browsing history is stored.

5. As mentioned earlier, the default setting for this value is normally 30 days. Highlight the number in the days to keep pages in history box and type in 0 to maximize your privacy.

6. Then, click OK to save your changes and exit the Internet Options screen.

After you have cleared your browser history and modified the history setting, your privacy will be much easier to protect.



FIGURE 14-2: Clearing the browser history.

Clearing temporary Internet files and cookies

Every time you visit a Web site, the files for the Web page, such as the HTML and the images, are downloaded and stored in a temporary directory known as Temporary Internet Files. Over time, this directory can become full of images and HTML from various Web sites that you have visited. This directory can end up taking up a lot of space on your hard drive. Additionally, a user can browse your Temporary Internet Files directory and find out exactly what site you have been visiting just as if they were looking at your browser history. If you are concerned about your privacy, or just concerned about disk space, then clearing the Temporary Internet Files is a must.

Cookies are another item that is created on your computer when you visit a Web site. Contrary to popular belief, cookies are really not that bad. Most Web sites use them to save user data to a browser. One example of this is site preferences or automatic logon when you visit a Web site. The Webmaster of the Web site can detect if their Web site has already given you a cookie that has your user ID stored in it. If it finds one, then it knows exactly who you are and logs you on automatically. Advertisers also use cookies to store personal data. Instead of showing you the same advertisement 50 times, they use cookies to keep track of how many times an advertisement is displayed on your screen.

A common myth about cookies is that they allow Web sites to track other sites you visit. That is just not true. The only cost of having cookies on your computer is a privacy concern for local users. Any user that has physical access to your computer can browse to the directory that the cookies are stored and view what Web sites you visit because the cookies are named after the Web site that instructed your browser to put them on your computer.

Clearing the Temporary Internet Files and removing the cookies is a very simple task. Just follow these steps to clear these files:

1. Open up another copy of Internet Explorer.

2. Click Tools and then select Internet Options.

3. Under the Temporary Internet Files section, click the Delete Files button.

4. You will be prompted to confirm if you would also like offline files to be deleted. For maximum privacy, check the box and Click OK.

5. Once the files are erased, you will be shown the Internet Options screen again. Taking care of the cookies for your privacy is just as easy. Just click the Delete Cookies button.

6. Click OK on the confirmation screen.

7. Select OK once more to close Internet Options and you are done.

Now users will no longer be able to see what Web sites you visit from the cookies and Temporary Internet Files that are stored on your computer. Additionally, you will have freed up some disk space by deleting these files.

Adjusting your cookie security policy

As mentioned, cookies are not as bad a thing as some people in the computing world would like you to believe. Instead, the only real risk they present is a loss of some privacy, as mentioned earlier. If you allow your browser to be instructed to create cookies on your computer, then over time your PC would have quite a collection of them. Anyone who used your computer would then know what sites you visited, if they knew where the cookie files were located. The latest version of Internet Explorer includes many new enhancements. One of the enhancements includes a new way of accepting cookies. Now, you have the ability to specify if you would like your browser to block all cookies or just certain types. To be able to use this new feature, you will have to understand what the two different types of cookies are: first- and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are placed on your computer by the current site that you are visiting. Third party cookies are placed on your computer by remote sites such as advertisement servers.

If you do not want your computer to accept third-party cookies so that marketing companies cannot identify what ads they have shown you, or if you just want to adjust your cookie acceptance settings, then follow these steps:

1. Open up a copy of Internet Explorer.

2. Click the Tools menu bar item and select Internet Options.

3. When Internet Options loads, click the Privacy tab.

4. You will see the up-and-down slider that allows you to select different levels of cookie security. I recommend that you bypass this and just click the Advanced button instead.

5. Once you click the Advanced button and see the Advanced Privacy Settings window, check the box that says Override Automatic Cookie Handling.

6. Your settings for first- and third-party cookies will now be available for adjustment, as shown in Figure 14-3. I recommend that you always accept first-party cookies. You can decide if you want to block or select the prompt to accept third-party cookies. Prompt will pop up a dialog box notifying you that a cookies request has been received.

7. Once you are finished with your settings, click the OK button to save your changes and return to Internet Options.

8. Click OK once more to close Internet Options.



FIGURE 14-3: Adjusting the cookie privacy settings.

Now that you have set the cookie privacy setting manually, you can eliminate cookies from being stored on your hard drive in the first place. Doing so will allow you to protect your privacy and still be able to use Web sites that need cookies.

Saying no to encrypted Web pages

If you manage your finances or shop online, then you have probably had experience with using secure Web connections, otherwise known as SSL. These secure connections encrypt the data that is transferred from a Web server to your computer. Once the data gets to your computer, your browser has a special key that decrypts the information and displays it on your computer. During this process, when the file is decrypted, it is saved in the Temporary Internet Files directory so that the browser can display it.

This default appears to be harmless because the Web page is only saved on your computer. If no one has remote access to your computer, the data would be safe, right? Not necessarily, because your data is now vulnerable to anyone who has physical local access to your computer. If that person is clever and lucky enough, he or she can sort through your Temporary Internet Files directory to find confidential information, such as your online banking information. All of this information is saved by default on your hard drive for anyone to look at. They do not even need to know your password or even log into your account on the bank’s Web site, because a snapshot of the Web page is stored locally on your computer.

What can you do to protect your computer from this vulnerability besides setting up better computer security such as complex passwords? There is a cool feature of Internet Explorer that you just have to turn on that will eliminate the problem completely. Simply called Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk, this feature, when enabled, will solve your problems. To enable it, follow these steps:

1. Open up a copy of Internet Explorer.

2. Click Tools and select Internet Options.

3. Then, select the Advanced tab.

4. Scroll down through the list toward the bottom of the window until you see the Security section, as shown in Figure 14-4.

5. Locate Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk, and check the box to the left of it.

6. Click OK to save and activate your changes.

Now you will no longer have to worry about pages that were encrypted being saved to your drive for anyone who has access to your computer to see.

Disabling AutoComplete

You already know about AutoComplete from the address bar. We have taken care of that privacy problem by clearing the file that stored the information, as was shown in the section about removing the address bar suggestions. However, that is not the only situation where AutoComplete attempts to provide assistance. Another situation where AutoComplete tries to give a helping hand is when you are filling in text boxes on Web pages. AutoComplete in this situation works exactly the same as AutoComplete with the address bar. As you begin to fill in the text box, several suggestions will appear, based on information that you have already typed in.



FIGURE: 14-4: Changing IE’s security settings.

To get an idea how this works in action, visit a search site such as Google (Google) and start to type in words for which you want to search. When you do so, words similar to the ones you have typed in the box on other visits to the site will appear. This capability allows anyone that uses your computer to be able to see what other users of the computer have searched for on the site, even if the browser history was cleared. Clearly, having this feature enabled would be a big concern if you were concerned about your privacy. Disabling the AutoComplete feature is not very difficult and will completely take care of this privacy concern. Follow these steps to put an end to AutoComplete:



FIGURE 14-5: Adjusting the AutoComplete settings by entering AutoComplete settings.

1. Open up an instance of Internet Explorer.

2. Click Tools and select Internet Options.

3. Select the Content tab and click the AutoComplete button, as shown in Figure 14-5.

4. Once the AutoComplete Settings window has loaded, just uncheck all of the boxes that are listed under Use AutoComplete For. This will disable this privacy concern completely.

5. Although you have the AutoComplete window open, you can also click the two clear buttons at the bottom of the window to clear any data that is in the file stores for this data.

6. When you are finished, just click the OK button to save your changes.

7. Select OK once more to close Internet Options and activate your changes.

AutoComplete is now a thing of the past. You will not have to worry about people using your computer being automatically shown all of the things that you type into your address and text boxes.

Clearing Temporary Internet Files automatically

Earlier, you learned how to clear your Temporary Internet Files so they will not be a privacy concern. Over time, your Temporary Internet Files folder will fill up again and once again become a privacy concern. One easy way to fix this is to use an interesting hidden feature of Internet Explorer that will automatically delete these files every time you close Internet Explorer. This way, you will not have to worry about clearing all of the files every time you use IE. Follow these steps to activate this great feature:



FIGURE 14-6: Setting up IE to automatically clear the Temporary Internet Files.

1. Open up a copy of Internet Explorer.

2. Click the Tools menu bar item and then select Internet Options.

3. Select the Advanced tab and scroll down to the bottom of the screen.

4. Locate and check Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed, as shown in Figure 14-6.

5. Click OK to close Internet Options and activate your changes.

Enabling Automatic Empty is a great way to easily maintain a clean PC. Keep in mind that this will only delete your Temporary Internet Files and not your cookies. You will still have to delete the cookies using the method mentioned previously in this section.

Windows Interface

Once you have Internet Explorer under control, you can move on to cleaning the rest of the Windows interface. Just like Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer keeps track of the applications that you run and files that you open. It does this so it can tailor your computer to your personal use with features such as the frequently run programs list on the Start panel. Features like this are designed to speed up the use of your computer. However, the side effect of the convenience is a loss of privacy. These next few sections will show you how to recover your privacy, even though at the expense of convenience.

Clearing Frequently Run Programs list

One of the great new features of Windows XP can also be a pain when you are concerned about your privacy. Being able to select the program that you use frequently directly on the Start panel instead of navigating through the entire Start Menu can save you some time. However, over time, this list can become cluttered with programs that you do not want. Additionally, anyone who uses your computer can easily see what programs you use.

If you are concerned about your privacy or just want to clear the list and start fresh, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Properties.

2. Click the Customize button next to Start Menu.

3. Under the Programs section, click the Clear List button, as shown in Figure 14-7.

4. Once you click the button, nothing seems to have happened. Don’t worry; it has cleared your list so you do not need to keep clicking the button. Click OK when you are finished to close the Customize Start Menu window.

5. Then, click OK once more to close Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.



FIGURE 14-7: Clearing the program list on the Start panel.

The program list is now clear and you can start from fresh building your list of frequently run programs.

Clearing the recently opened document list

Windows XP monitors all of the files that you open on your computer so it can construct the recently opened document list. This is designed to allow you to easily open up files that you have been working on. All types of documents are listed in this list. Every time you open up a Word document or a digital image, an entry is created within the list. Although this feature exists, I never find myself using it and the only value that it adds to my computer is a privacy concern.

Clearing the recently opened document list every once in a while is a good idea, so your documents are kept confidential and your privacy high. Clearing the list is very easy. Just follow these steps:



FIGURE 14-8: Clearing the recently opened document list.

1. Right-click the Start button and select Properties.

2. Then click the Customize button next to the Start Menu radio button.

3. Once the Customize Start Menu window appears, click the Advanced tab.

4. Under the Recent Documents section, click the Clear List button, as shown in Figure 14-8.

5. Once you have cleared the list, click the OK button to close the Customize Start Menu window.

6. Then, click OK once more to close Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.

Removing temporary files from your hard drive

Over time, your hard drive can become cluttered with temporary files left behind from applications and the operating system. These files not only take up space, but they can be tracks of activity on your computer. Removing the temporary files is a great way to clean up any garbage information that was left behind; you’ll then increase your privacy and also free up some disk space.

Windows has advanced greatly over the course of its existence. Back in the early versions of Windows, there was just one temp folder that all temp files were located in. With Windows XP, there are temp folders all over the place. To remove the files, you could go to all of the different folders and manually erase the files. This would work, but there is a better way.

To clear my temporary files from my hard drive, I like to use a program called TempCleaner. TempCleaner is a free application, written by Paul Wesson that will automatically detect your temporary directory and delete all the files. With TempCleaner, you do not have to worry about where to navigate on your hard drive to delete the files. Instead, just execute the program. To get started using TempCleaner to clean your hard drive of temporary files, follow these directions:

1. Visit TempCleaner’s Web site, located at www.ipaw.net/product_tempcleaner.php and download a copy.

2. Expand the archive and run the installer.

3. Once the installer has finished, just start up TempCleaner by clicking the Start Menu, expanding All Programs, and expanding the TempCleaner folder.

4. TempCleaner has a very simple interface. When it is running, you will just see a simple window that says Cleaning Up Your Temp Folder, as shown in Figure 14-9.

5. Once TempCleaner has finished, the screen will disappear. If you would like TempCleaner to remove files from other folders, such as the temp folder used by certain applications, this can be done within TempCleaner’s options. The TempCleaner Options screen can be viewed by using the TempCleaner Options shortcut in the TempCleaner Start Menu folder.

6. Once the TempCleaner Options screen is loaded, just click the Folder button next to Add Folder and select the folder in which you want the files to be deleted. Click OK when you are finished.

7. Click OK and the TempCleaner Options window will close.

The next time you run TempCleaner, the folder(s) that you added will also be cleaned on top of the Windows temp folders. If you like to keep your computer clear of temp files for maximum privacy and disk space, add the TempCleaner shortcut to your startup folder in the Start Menu so that it is run every time you turn your computer on.



FIGURE 14-9: TempCleaner removing temp files.

Removing saved passwords

When you visit a Web site that requires authentication or attempt to connect to remote computers, you are given the option to save your password so that the next time you visit the page or attempt to access a remote resource, you do not have to reenter your password. This feature can be a huge convenience, especially if you access a particular Web site or resource frequently. The downside to this convenience is the potential for horrible security and privacy problems. Essentially, you are taking the password off all of the sites and resources for which you saved a password. Anyone who has physical access to your computer can get in using your username and password, even if they do not know your password.

Removing your saved passwords from your computer is a very good idea, because doing so will protect your accounts and also increase your accounts privacy. Removing the password is a little tricky in Window XP because there is no easy way to access a list of all the accounts that have passwords stored for them within Control Panel or any other user interface element. Fortunately, there is a great hack that will do just that. Hidden away in the keymgr.dll system file is an interface for viewing stored usernames and passwords. To use this interface, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start Menu and select Run.

2. Type in rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr.

3. The Stored User Names and Passwords window will load, showing you a list of all of the accounts that are saved on your computer, as shown in Figure 14-10.

4. To remove a saved password, select the account on the list and click the Remove button.

5. Click OK on the Confirm screen and the account will be removed from the list, erasing your stored password.

6. Repeat the previous steps for any other accounts that you want to remove.

7. When you are finished, just click Close.

You can also use the Stored User Names and Passwords window to add more usernames and passwords to your computer. If you have a Web site or resource and you do not care about your privacy, such as some news Web site, and you are running Windows XP Professional, then just click the Add button when the Stored User Names and Passwords window is loaded.

Setting file and folder permissions

Windows XP Professional boxes running the NTFS file system have the capability to set individual file permissions on both files and folders. File and folder permissions allow you to
specify exactly who will be able to read, write, execute, and even list or access a folder. So, file and folder permissions can be a very powerful tool to protect your data from others’ eyes.



FIGURE 14-10: The Stored User Names and Passwords administration screen.

If your file system is FAT32, then you will not be able to set permissions. Fortunately, an easy way exists for you to convert your FAT32 file system to NTFS. Do a search in the Windows Help and Support Center for Convert to NTFS and you will be shown directions on how you can go about converting your drive’s file system.

Setting the permissions on with a lot of control requires you to disable simple file sharing and security. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open up any folder on your computer and expand the Tools menu and select Folder Options.

2. Click the View tab and scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings box.

3. Uncheck the Use Simple File Sharing option at the bottom of the list.

4. Click OK, and you are finished restoring full control over your file permissions.

Now that you have disabled simple file sharing, you can proceed and easily configure the permissions on any file or folder that you desire. Setting the permissions is very easy once you do it a few times. Follow these directions to set the permissions to maximize your privacy:

1. Right-click any file or folder for which you want to modify permissions and select Properties.

2. Then, click the Security tab. (When simple file sharing was enabled, this tab did not exist.)

3. First, remove all users from the group or username list to whom you do not want to give access. It is a good idea to remove the Everyone group because this does include everyone that can access your computer. However, make sure that you do not accidentally remove your username from the list. Also watch out for the SYSTEM account. This is one account that the operating system uses to access files. Removing it may cause unexpected results. But, fortunately, if the system actually does need it, you can always add it again if you remove it and it causes problems.

If you are having difficulties removing users from the username list, this could be because the user is inherited from a parent folder. Permissions are passed down to all subfolders and files. If you want a user to have access to a folder but not its subfolders, then you will have to click the Advanced button on the security tab of the Properties window. Once the Advanced Security Settings window loads, uncheck the option that says Inherit from Parent the Permission Entries that Apply to Child Objects. A Security notification box will pop up. Click the Remove button to remove all of the inherited permissions so that you can have full control of the folder.

4. Now that you have the list of users and groups taken care of, set the specific permissions that the user has on the file or folder. Select the name of the user that you want to modify, then check the corresponding boxes in the Permissions For list for the activities that you want them to be able to do, as shown in Figure 4-11.

5. When you have finished setting the permissions for all of the users, click OK to exit the Permissions screen.

Once you have set the permissions for all of sensitive directories, you will have greatly increased your security and privacy. Also keep in mind that file permissions are inherited. Every folder within a folder inherits the permissions of the parent folder unless they are specifically removed. Therefore, if you set the file permissions for a folder, all of the subfolders and files will be automatically set with the same permissions. File and folder permissions can be very useful. If you have a program on your computer that you do not want anyone else running, simply set the permissions on that folder so that only you can read and execute.

Encrypting Files

Another cool feature of Windows XP Professional’s NTFS file system is its ability to encrypt files. Permissions on files and folders work well to protect them when the operating system is running. However, if special software and hardware are used, the raw data can be accessed on the hard drive. With the absence of the operating system running to protect its data, anyone can very easily lift the data off the drive no matter what permissions were set on the file. Such software and hardware is usually expensive and primarily used by data recovery companies and law enforcement agencies.

To protect your computer’s files and folders from conventional recovery methods, you can encrypt the files. Doing so will scramble and encode the data within the files so that the only



FIGURE 14-11: Adjusting the permissions for Jason. Jason now only has permission to read files in the incoming folder.

data lifted off the hard drive with recovery tools when the operating system is not running will be scrambled garbage.

Encrypting files is not just for personal use. If you work for a company that has very sensitive information on their computers and laptops, you would be wise to encrypt the folders and files that contain important and confidential data. If you do so, the confidential information is a lot less likely to get out in the open should the hardware ever be stolen.

Before I go any further, I should mention that encrypting files is not always 100 percent secure. All files that are encrypted can eventually be cracked. It is only a matter of time before a highspeed computer that is trying every possible encryption key finds the correct key. Nevertheless, there are millions, if not billions, of possible keys. As you can imagine, even with the fastest computers in the world, cracking the key will take some time (several, if not hundreds of years). But there always is the chance that someone could randomly pick the correct key, although the odds of that happening are about equal to winning the lottery twice in your lifetime. Now that you know about how encrypting files can help your privacy and security, get started encrypting files. Encrypting a file is as simple as changing files attribute. Follow these steps to tell Windows to encrypt a file:

1. Right-click a file or folder and select Properties.

2. Then, click the Advanced button next to Attributes.

3. The Advanced Attribute window will load. Check the box to enable encryption, as shown in Figure 4-12.

4. Click OK to return to save your change.

5. Select OK once more to close the Properties window and activate encryption.

Once all of your sensitive files are encrypted, your privacy and security are greatly increased. Setting your file permissions and enabling encryption is the perfect combination for protecting your sensitive files.



FIGURE 14-12: Enabling encryption.