Cover Your Tracks

Q: Dear IT Guy, I just read in our employee manual that the law firm I am a secretary at has the ability to determine where I have been on the Internet and enter that information into my personnel file. Before knowing this I went to a couple of shopping sites and now want to clear my trails from Big Brothers prying eyes. Can you help?

A: Dear reader, I have some bad news and some potential worse news for you. To begin, if you have been to unapproved sites the firm Network Administrator most likely already knows due to the logging capability of the firms firewall. There may be a small chance that Big Brother can’t resolve your computer address (IP number) to your username and you flew under the radar. The other bad news is that your local machine keeps at least a two-week log of the sites you have been. On a Windows 2000 machine this index file can be found and opened with notepad at the following path C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Local SettingsHistory2 weeks ago. You will first need to select show-hidden files and folders and hope that you have folder access to this file. You can delete this file and if you are good no one will know any better.

Q: IT Guy, our firm blocks us from using Instant Messaging and access to AOL. Do you have any alternatives for private Email?

A: My first suggestion is to never use the company Email for private use, it is the property of the law firm in most cases and is very easy for the Network Administrator to access. Besides, email can be archived and restored many years later, even after you have left. If your company has blocked access to the obvious mail providers such as Yahoo mail and Hotmail, you may be able to find an open account domain at Juno.com or Lycos.com, which also offer free HTML accounts.