In response to this article on arstechnica. Now I can't speak for all shops. And I question their methods of testing for this.
The article says "shops also copied data onto a personal device".
Depending on the job, I copy your data on one of my fileservers / temporary drive with the press of a few buttons because working with no backups is a recipe for disaster. This is deleted after the job is done because I need the free space for the next customer. Big companies may not care about your data and just do a fresh install trusting that you have a backup... you have backups right?
Advice!: Do your backups!
The article also says "Logs on devices from two of those visits weren’t recoverable".
Sounds like that shop ran some maintenance code to clean up useless log files and not "cover there tracks".
Advice!:Running a disk cleanup is always a good idea.
The article then shows an odd chart with "National"?? Regional and Local shops painting local shops as all creeps. Well who has more time to kill? The employee at minimum wage that has no interest of working there for more than a few months and dosen't have to push a broom. Or the lone worker who has paper work, inventory management, research and development, keeping the shop clean, a phone and walk in customers to answer, etc... Running a business is hard work. I don't have time to browse through your data unless you pay me extra for it.
Trust the big companies that can just fire the problematic employee and all is good or the lone shop owner who has everything to lose.
Advice!: Don't leave risky pictures on your desktop with large thumbnails! Also, don't save the password for any banking related activities on your browser!
The article mentions using a tool like "Windows Steps Recorder".
If I see that running I will inform you that you are being spied on. Disable it. Clear the log files and recommend you change all your passwords
The article also says "Even worse, repair technicians required a customer to surrender their login password even when it wasn’t necessary for the repair needed."
Are they talking about that "freshly imaged Windows 10" with "the audio driver was disabled"? Microsoft tries their best to have everyone using their email password to login to Windows. And if bitlocker was enabled you will need a 36 character long code from your email to get your data back. But if you don't have a password to enter Windows I don't need to know your password.
But what about the PIN number option? Sure I can use that until a certain random update clears it then I'll need your password.
They say you can check battery health from the bios? I don't see that feature on most laptops so that's total bs. And this is where a thing like bitlocker can turn an easy job into a nightmare.
And your password will not be kept on file unless you ask.
Advice!:Use UPPER and lower case letters numbers and at least 1 symbol "#@$%!?"
- Your data (when needed) is stored temporarily on a fileserver that is not shared / forwarded to the internet.
- Your private life remains private. I write custom codes to save time and my eyes from sensitive data.
- Your passwords are not kept on file unless you ask for it.
- The only info I keep from your machine are what parts are installed, various health reports and benchmark scores.
I value your privacy and don't collect any unnecessary information or store any crucial data in your cookies. The data collected is stored on servers owned, operated and maintained by 'Ordinateur Neguac Computer'.
Here is a rundown of the data I collect and the reasons why I do so.
Account registration is optional and is only to facilitate purchasing and view order history. The information asked: Name, Shipping address, Email, Phone number and a Password.
Guest checkout requires a Name, a Shipping address, Email and Phone number. This information is stored and only a site administrator can retrieve them by order ID if needed.
Banking information is solely handled by Paypal. You will be forwarded to the Paypal secure checkout after confirming your order. This site does not store or require any banking information.
Access logs are kept this includes a timestamp entry containing some browser fingerprint information and an ip address. This is the result of the internal workings of the webservers and used to monitor site performance. This site also uses Google analytics to help the site administrator view and understand the flow of website visitors.
This site uses cookies. The data contained in this cookie is a number that is used to lookup the cart data from the webserver.
The data collected here will not be sold or shared with any other third party unless required by law.