Ask Leo: How do I keep my information on a shared computer private?

By Leo Notenboom

A reader asks: “I share a computer and I want to know how to
keep my information private.”

Ultimately … you can’t. At least not easily, and even then
it depends on the data that you’re attempting to keep
private, and the technical savvy of the individuals that
you’re attempting to keep it private from.

There’s nothing like your own computer. But if you have to
share, there are a couple of things that might help. A
little.

First, you must realize that anyone with administrative
access to the computer can see everything. You can use
Windows file permissions to make files accessible to only
you, but an administrator could still quite easily access
those files using any number of techniques.

So if you’re trying to keep things private from the system
administrator, normal methods simply won’t work.

What do you really need?

[This post is excerpted with Leo’s permission from his Ask Leo blog.]

Leo Notenboom has been involved in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. After retiring from an 18 year career as a Microsoft Software Engineer Leo went on to create Ask Leo!, a free web site where he answers real questions from ordinary computer users.

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