Important ideas about your computer!
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| Thu, 07-06-2006 - 1:08pm |
Someone asked about how to record/store notes on their situation and that got me thinking...
This post addresses
(1)How to do a Basic Clean-Up for when you've been online
(2)Creating "secret" sub-folders to store your personal documents
(3)Online/off-site storage to store your personal documents
(1) CLEAN YOUR COMPUTER!
Otherwise, your abuser may easily be able to (for example) see, just by reviewing the History or Cookies records, that you visited here, or "DivorceMyAbuser.com" (<-- not a real site, if only!). Also, because of the function that saves what you've typed into fields, your abuser could see that you googled "abuse support services." I have gotten in the habit of doing this almost every single time I go online anymore, and so it goes very quickly. A plus: this helps clean-up your computer so it runs faster.
I use Windows and Internet Explorer for my browser (anyone who can tell us the steps for MAC users, please do so!!!), so what I do is open the Internet Explorer program and (along the top-of-page, next to Help) I click TOOLS/INTERNET OPTIONS. Then I click on DELETE COOKIES (tell it Yes), and then DELETE FILES (I tell it Yes to delete offline files also). Next I click on CLEAR HISTORY. Finally I go to the CONTENT tab and click on AUTO-COMPLETE/CLEAR FORMS (tell it Yes).
Doing this erases the records of where you've gone and whatever data you may have entered or searched for, right up to when you perform this task.
The stinker is you can lose your passwords when you delete Cookies. This requires a bit more detailing:
In this case, delete the Files and clear the Forms as noted above, but do *not* delete the Cookies as noted above. In Windows Explorer (used to be called the File Manager, try clicking the "My Computer" icon), go to the C:Drive and find the folder for COOKIES -- depending on your version of Windows, this folder may be in the C:Drive inside the "Windows" Folder or it may be inside one of the folders in the "Documents and Settings" folder. You might try to "SEARCH/all files and folders" for the folder-name "Cookies," that ought to find it, too. Then you have to manually delete the relevant cookies item-by-item, based on their name (such as "user@divorcemyabuser"). Just highlight the item and click DELETE at top-of-screen =OR= right-click the item and choose the Delete option from the pop-up menu that appears.
This isn't a total or perfect "fix:" a really tech-savvy person can prolly dig deeper. However, for day-to-day usage and to keep your abuser from seeing anything in the first place that might raise suspicions, it should make-do.
(2) ANOTHER IDEA: "SECRET" Sub-Folders
Depending on how savvy (paranoid/controlling) your abuser is, you might be able to create deeply-buried/hard-to-find file folders to save your own "stuff" to. I've done so by going to the C:Drive (click "My Computer" to find that) then finding a likely/dull/techy-looking folder to use -- for example, on the computer I'm using right now, there's a folder called "i386" in which there are several sub-folders: one is called "$OEM$", and inside *that* one is a folder called "$" I might then create a folder either next-to "$" or inside "$", with a name like "$Ob" Then, when I am working on a document, I "Save As" and manually go into the filing system to store my document in that deeply-buried subfolder.
To create a folder:
Go to where you're going to create your "secret" sub-folder -- in my example, I'd go to C:, inide "i386" then inside "$OEM$" Once there, click (at top-of-screen at far-left) FILE/NEW/FOLDER. Name your folder (remember to make it a name that fits with the others nearby) and that's it.
In this way, your abuser would have to SEARCH the computer for files created/modified within a given/recent period of time, to find whatever you've saved to this folder (since that data is applied by the system, you can't change it). But in day-to-day usage, it's highly unlikely that your abuser will ever notice this new "Secret" sub-folder.
(3)OFF-SITE STORAGE
For storing electronic documents off-site (which is something I started doing for business but the idea/system would apply to personal security too), I have used a *free* service called Streamload (google it, and this is NOT intended as an endorsement), which allows you to upload files of almost any size to "their filing cabinet." It just requires that you remember your username and password. There are many similar services, so if you really feel uncomfortable having certain personal files on your computer, you can upload them.
For hard-copies, you have a few options:
== Find a cool friend/family member/other who will keep a manila envelope for you and hand-off materials from time to time to store there
== Using cash, hire a bank safe-deposit box (NOT at your normal bank) and store your things there
== If there aren't many or your notes are small (a pack of 3x5 cards is a great way to record incidents: date it, write a lil text and you're done), store them inside/at the bottom of a package of period-pads. To most guys, those things are more repellent than radioactive waste, they'll never look there. This will work for short-term, so if you can identify a safe off-site storage you'll want to hand-off to that regularly.
These are just some ideas that came to me off the top of my head -- who has more?!
| Fri, 07-07-2006 - 12:32am |
