

Download links appear for the free programs as they are cited. This guide also offers solutions: safe practices you can follow, and free programs you can install. The goal is to provide information anyone can understand. It describes these concerns in simple, non-technical terms.


This guide explains these - and many other - threats to your security and privacy when you use Windows computers. Microsoft Word and Excel documents contain secret keys that uniquely identify you? They also collect statistics telling anyone how long you spent working on them and when. The web sites you visit might be able to compile a complete dossier of your online activities? Your computer might be a bot, a slave computer waiting to perform tasks assigned by a remote master? Your computer might run software that spies on you? Windows secretly records all the web sites you’ve ever visited?Īfter you delete your Outlook emails and empty the Waste Basket, someone could still read your email?Īfter you delete a file and empty the Recycle Bin, the file still exists? Security consultant Howard Fosdick has contributed the latest entry in the 2008 OSNews Article Contest: a highly detailed examination of security and privacy on the Windows platform, and how to use free software tools and a little knowledge to protect your privacy online.
