You may possibly own a laptop or a computer, but there are often times when you need to use a public computer to get the work done. Basically from public computers I mean to computers at airports, cyber cafes, libraries, college computer labs, or even a friend’s computer. People use public computers without any restrictions and these are also accessible to a large community of users. So there is possibility that your work, personal, or financial information can be exposed to others. Also beware that the public computer itself may be spying on you.
But if follow a few simple rules, you can make the use of public computers safe. Following are few simple tips which if you follow, ensure you to keep your work, personal, or financial information private and safe.
1. Don’t ask a public computer to save your save your logon information and passwords
When you login to any website or application, make sure that the “Remember me” or “Save my password in this computer”, etc option are unchecked. Also make sure to log out from the web sites by clicking "Log Out" on the web site. It's not enough to simply close the browser window or type in another address.
Most of the programs (especially social networking Web sites, Web mail, and instant messenger programs) include an option to login automatically when computer starts and if you login to these programs with this option selected, it will save your user name and password in that computer. Do remember to disable this option so no one can login in these programs as you.
2. Hard delete all the newly created and downloaded documents before leaving
First of all try to not create or download any confidential documents to a public computer. But if it is required and you did this, do remember to hard delete all the created and downloaded documents from that public computer. When you delete a document it went to “Recycle Bin” from where anyone can access them. So always ensure to delete these documents from the “Recycle Bin” as well. You can also press “Shift + Delete” keys to hard delete files and folder from the computer.
3. Wipe out all your tracks
Delete the History, Temporary Internet files, Downloads history, form data, stored passwords and cookies from within the browser.
a) Delete tracks from Internet Explorer 7 & 8:
Click “Tools -> Internet Options”. In the Internet Options window, open the “General” tab and click on “Delete” to delete all the stored information in the browser.
b) Delete tracks from Internet Explorer (Older versions):
Click “Tools -> Internet Options”. In the Internet Options window, open the General tab. Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Files, and then click Delete Cookies. Under History, click Clear History. Delete all the files in the temporary folder of your user account which you can find by browsing to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp.
c) Delete tracks from Firefox:
Click Tools and then click Clear Private Data.
4. Don't leave the computer unattended with sensitive information on the screen
Before leaving the public computer, make sure to log out of all programs and close all windows that might display sensitive information.
5. Watch for over-the-shoulder snoops
Beware of the over-the-shoulder snoops who can look over your shoulder or watch as you enter sensitive passwords to collect your private and sensitive information. So when you use a public computer, ensure that there is no such kind of thieves around.
6. Beware of Keyloggers at public computers
Keyloggers can be a hardware device connected to the public computer or a software program installed in the public computer, which keeps track and stores all the keystrokes when you are working on public computer. So if you enter your user id and password, keyloggers will store all these which can be misused later.
The best way to protect your sensitive information and passwords from keyloggers is to enter random keys between the successive keys of the password. The idea is, after each character of your password you type, you also type several random characters in another field in your browser or in any other programs like notepad, word, etc. So the final string that the keylogger receives will contain the password, but embedded with so much junk characters that discovering it is infeasible.