Flash Drives and Public Computers

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TMitchell

If I use my USB flash drive to view my business files on a public
computer (W2K or XP OS), are there traces of those files left behind
(shortcuts or whatever)?
 
TMitchell said:
If I use my USB flash drive to view my business files on a public computer
(W2K or XP OS), are there traces of those files left behind (shortcuts or
whatever)?
Click to expand...

Yes, they will appear in the MRU lists in the registry at least. I'm not
sure whether anyone would be able to actually access your files (this would
depend on the application and its settings) but the filenames at least would
be stored.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Ed said:
Yes, they will appear in the MRU lists in the registry at least. I'm not
sure whether anyone would be able to actually access your files (this would
depend on the application and its settings) but the filenames at least would
be stored.

Ed Metcalfe.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing that "MRU" stands for Most Recently Used, yes? Is there a
way to erase these registry entries?
 
Sun, 06 May 2007 23:36:18 GMT from TMitchell <tmitche2
@ix.netcom.com>:
If I use my USB flash drive to view my business files on a public
computer (W2K or XP OS), are there traces of those files left behind
(shortcuts or whatever)?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you're not daft enough to copy files from your flash
drive to the public computer's hard drive.

Possibly in the Most Recently Used file lists of Windows or the
applications. But that would reveal the names of the files, not their
contents.

Word for Windows and some other applications write a temporary copy
of the open document while you're working on it, but (a) it's deleted
when you close the document and (b) if I'm not mistaken, it's written
to the same folder where the document lives.
 
Mon, 07 May 2007 03:13:14 GMT from TMitchell <tmitche2
@ix.netcom.com>:
I'm guessing that "MRU" stands for Most Recently Used, yes? Is there a
way to erase these registry entries?
Click to expand...

Right-click on the Start button and select Customize. I think you
have to go into "Advanced" for the MRU list. But the administrator of
the public computer *should* have the start menu locked down so ha
people can't make malicious or clumsy changes, so you might not be
able to do this.

In Word and Excel, click Ctrl-Shift-minus, then click File and
carefully click on the document of yours that you want to remove from
the list. Repeat for multiple documents.

But really, why not avoid this? Just choose file names that don't
reveal anything you don't want revealed. Instead of "T Mitchel Resume
So I Can Get Away from This Crazy Job.doc", use "res.doc" (or,
better, "res.rtf" -- but that's another story and would be better
discussed in a Word group).
 
Sun, 06 May 2007 23:36:18 GMT from TMitchell <tmitche2
@ix.netcom.com>:
If I use my USB flash drive to view my business files on a public
computer (W2K or XP OS), are there traces of those files left behind
(shortcuts or whatever)?
Click to expand...

I've already answered the question you asked, but now I'll answer the
question you didn't ask:

Make sure you have really, really good and up-to-date virus
protection on your home computer, because you never know what will
worm its way onto your USB drive when it's inserted in that slot in
the public computer.

I teach part time at the local community college, and THREE TIMES the
instructor's computer in my classroom infected my USB stick with
malware. Fortunately I check things carefully, and I run AVG on my
home computer, but it could have been really nasty.
 
TMitchell said:
I'm guessing that "MRU" stands for Most Recently Used, yes? Is there a
way to erase these registry entries?
Click to expand...

Yes, MRU is most recently used. If the PC is locked down correctly you will
not be able to delete these.

It's also worth noting that somebody *may* be able to get your file contents
out of the swapfile.

Never do anything that requires privacy on a public computer. If people you
do not know and/or trust have access to a PC you must assume that everything
you are doing can be monitored.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Mon, 7 May 2007 05:52:11 +0100 from Ed Metcalfe
It's also worth noting that somebody *may* be able to get your file contents
out of the swapfile.
Click to expand...

Good point -- I forgot about that.
 
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