Danger of an unattended browser?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rusty
  • Start date Start date
R

Rusty

Assuming a computer has a well managed firewall and malware protection, is
it any more dangerous to walk away from your computer with a web page open
than it is to close your browser?
Just curious,
Rusty
 
In Rusty had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Assuming a computer has a well managed firewall and malware
protection, is it any more dangerous to walk away from your computer
with a web page open than it is to close your browser?
Just curious,
Rusty
Click to expand...

If there's anything preventing them from just opening the browser themselves
then the answer is generally no. However - does the browser contain
information that's considered sensitive? Are you logged into any sites at
the time? If so then closing it might be in your best interest as well as
locking your workstation.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes
 
Thanks, that's about what I thought. I wouldn't walk away from a site that
I was logged in to (like the bank), or one with a form containing personal
info. I was thinking more of a site that may have real-time updating of a
sports score or some such thing. I have no info in my IE profile either, I
deleted all that when some sites seemed to know what town I lived in.
 
In Rusty had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Thanks, that's about what I thought. I wouldn't walk away from a
site that I was logged in to (like the bank), or one with a form
containing personal info. I was thinking more of a site that may
have real-time updating of a sports score or some such thing. I have
no info in my IE profile either, I deleted all that when some sites
seemed to know what town I lived in.
Click to expand...

I'll give you a small word of caution that's against what everyone might
say. Well no, not everyone...

Don't be afraid of it. Assuming you make good use of controlling how you
enter your personal information then you should be okay. If a site knows
where you live then, well, to be honest so don't I. I can pull your IP
address out of this email and narrow it down fairly well. If you visited my
site(s) I could follow you on that site (I don't use any tracking of any
kind - not even cookies so it's raw log data) to see where you went, what
you did, and the likes. Any site you visit can do that and a small
geo-location plug-in enables them to tell where you come from with a mouse
click.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes
 
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