If I want to take a laptop to the shop to be worked on, how can I set it up so that they can have enough access to do the necessary work, without having access into my emails etc?
I only ever use the desktop to access my email account and yet it's wide open from the Start Screen. How can I secure this?
If you are using OUTLOOK you can place a password on your email account, but it is not all that 'secure' as there are utilities (which most repair techs have in plenty) that can often get past them. Best practice is to copy your email file off the laptop (look for a OUTLOOK.PST or similar file with that extension) and REMOVE the file from the laptop until you get it back. I would recommend keeping at least two separate copies of the file in order to assure it does not get lost or corrupted. Depending on how much mail you have, that file can be very large (mine is over 48GB! But then I don't use Outlook). That is over 15 years of emails saved for archival backup in my business. If you are really concerned about privacy there are freeware utilities such as Eraserwhich will WIPE the deleted file(s) securely where they cannot be recovered.
If you are using webmail and your login and password are cached locally you can remove them from your browser cache/history by whichever method is provided in your browser. In Firefox which I use, it is under:
TOOLS >OPTIONS >SECURITY >PASSWORDS
You may also want to copy off and delete any documents or image files of a confidential or personal nature as well. Most reputable techs are not nosey or inquisitive but you never know. Many of my corporate clients require a privacy/non-disclosure clause on the service agreement!
Hi Wizmo,
Many thanks for your reply. It's actually a Hotmail account. So, basically, so long as I clear out passwords from the cache beforehand, that should do it?
Many thanks! :smile:
Well, I went into Firefox and Chrome and cleared my cache including passwords. Hotmail was still sitting there, wide open, from the Start Screen (ie. when you clicked on the mail app.) I couldn't see how to log out of it so I've unpinned it from Start.
Can anyone tell me if they think this will have sorted the problem?
Is it possible to keep it there but with a login option?
It would be nice if you just had a friend or shop you could trust. If you get everything to date off the web to TBird, just encrypt in TBird. The shop would be going through a lot of trouble, just to read a few incoming mails.
To create a password for a User Account go into the User in the Control Panel and you'll find the option. I'm not sure that will help if they need to get into the Admin account since they could access everything anyway if they were devious.
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