Recent documents is a security risk everyone should consider. What are
recent files? The list of recently opened files appears in various kind
of software products. The list of recently opened files helps us to
find recently opened or edited documents quickly. But this is a
security problem too. Any one can quickly scan your computer and see
what files you was working with.
It's not a problem, if you can guaranty no one else have an access to
your computer, but for some reason people concerned about security use
file shredders to wipe data, clears regularly browser cookies and cache
files, empty recycle bin when there is still enough free space on hard
disk.
Any user leaves some traces when working with computer. These traces
include recently opened files, the list of visited web-sites, some
system logging information, which might be as detailed as what file do
user open and when, what device do user access.
As for web-browser, then it's easy to clear traces - just use
appropriate option to clear history record and temporary files. But
there is an information that is harder to remove, recently opened files
is one of the problems.
From intruder viewpoint, the list of recently opened files is a list of
most valuable data. Even if most information is located at encrypted
drive, it's important to keep in secret the list of recently opened
files. Why? Because, there are a number of ways to get appropriate
file. If intruder will know about what to search for, then his task
would be much easier.
So how to get rid of recently files list. It depends on where the
actual program keeps the list of recently accessed files. For instance,
it might be some folder where the actual list is represented as files
with .lnk extension. In this way Windows keeps recently files, which
are visible from Start > Recent documents menu.
Some programs use more comprehensive scheme. For instance, it possible
that program will keep file in Windows Registry. In this case you
should follow some steps to remove recently opened files. As it is the
most common case for keeping recent files list, let's talk about it in
details.
First, you should run Windows Registry application. Select Start >
Run and type there "regedit" (with ""). Windows will run Registry
editor. Now, the task is to find appropriate category in Registry. Use
a search function in Registry Editor. Once the appropriate category was
found, you should delete the report or make it useless by changing file
name. Be careful: Windows registry editor was designed primary for
advanced users, so making some mistaken operation (such as deleting
wrong key from Registry) might cause a system crash.
Try not to delete keys that you don't feel sure about. Think about
making a copy before deleting, this will easy the process of getting
back, if necessary.
As a result, using this simple technique it's possible to find and
remove a record about recently opened or edited files. I some case,
it's really need to hide your traces.
Are there any other obvious way to tell what user was doing at PC?
Well, I think there is no more. Just consider removing Browser history
and records about some recently open files, this is basic steps to keep
your privacy.