Firefox Add-on: Form History Control

Firefox, like most modern browsers, has a handy feature which remembers what you type into form fields on web pages.  Unfortunately, sometimes it remembers things it shouldn't (oh, like your credit-card number, SSN, etc.), because the fields aren't labelled correctly on the web page.  In order to protect yourself against someone obtaining this information from your browser profile, I recommend the Form History Control add-on (available here).  It allows you to view saved form information, and set criteria for deleting fields you don't want saved.  You should review what the browser is storing, looking for sensitive data (pretty easy to glance through the list).

If you use another web browser, find out how to do something similar, or, for the really paranoid (or lazy, lol), disable the automatic form-filling feature to be on the safer side.

Search, not *be* searched!

Most people don't really think about the amount of information they give up when the sit down in front of their computer (or use their mobile device) to find information.  Maybe you have an ailment and want more information on it and possible remedies.  Looking for a home security solution.  Want to open an on-line financial account?  Start typing search terms into your favorite search site and these bits of information start building up a profile of you as a person and a consumer.  Companies like Google and Microsoft capture this information from your search sessions (your Internet address, what you search for, what links you click, what you search for next that might be related, etc.), aggregate this information, and sell it to marketing companies.  This is how they make their money.  In the process, they create a centralized database which contains a great deal of information about each person that uses their service.  The more information they obtain, the more money they make.  Conflict of interest?  Um....

Ixquick is the stand-out.  They are a European company who decided they would be different, and not collect private information about their users.  As a result, they are the search option (and, so far as I know, the only option) for those of us who want to keep our private information...private.

Find out more about how they protect their users' privacy here:
http://us2.ixquick.com/eng/protect_privacy.html

Search here:
http://us2.ixquick.com/eng/

If you're concerned about people evesdropping on your searches (ex., at a wireless hotspot or when using your wireless mobile device), use the secure encrypted search page:
https://us2.ixquick.com/eng/

Browse Safer with Firefox & Add-Ons

If you're concerned about keeping your computer and personal information safe, I recommend using any browser that isn't made by Microsoft. Seriously. If you use Firefox, I recommend the following add-ons:

Flashblock: keeps Flash animations from loading until you click on them, reducing page load times and bandwidth used, as well as preventing Flash-based attacks.

AdBlock Plus (with the EasyList (USA) subscription): keeps your browser from loading advertising images on web pages; this improves loading times, decreases bandwidth used, and prevents attacks embedded in ad images/animations.

NoScript: prevents scripts from running on web pages unless you allow them. Keeps your browsing activities from being reported to tracking services and prevents script-based attacks. It's easy to unblock trusted sites (like Facebook! Uh...).

Ghostery: shows/blocks web trackers on a page, which are used to gather behavioral data about users (i.e., track your behavior within and among web sites). Not so valuable if you're using NoScript (many trackers rely on scripting).

LinkExtend: has a lot of neat stuff in it's toolbar (and I usually _hate_ toolbars!), including "site safety" ratings, "child friendly" ratings, and a nice integrated multi-search feature. If you've ever wondered "Should I really be on this site?", this add-on will help.

RequestPolicy: For the really paranoid, this allows you to control what page elements are loaded from other web servers (ex., youarehere.com loads an image from server allyourcomputerarebelongtous.ru).  Requires a little micromanagement, but gives fine-grain control over what page content is loaded and displayed by your browser.

You can dowload Firefox for free here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Windows Password Recovery

If you've ever forgotten your Windows password, don't fret: It's simple to rediscover it with a free, open-source program called Ophcrack (available from SourceForge: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/). Just download the CD (.iso image) and burn it to a CD, then put the CD in the computer in question and reboot. Ophcrack examines the files where the Windows user passwords are stored and matches them against a pre-built dictionary of possibilities (millions of them) to find the correct ones.

While this is good news, it should also point out a weakness in computer passwords: anyone with physical access to your machine can do the same thing! So, don't think a clever password is going to protect you against someone obtaining the information on your computer, especially if they have physical access to it (remember that next time you take your computer in to the repair shop). And reading the files on that computer is even easier (not even requiring your password, unless you're using encryption to scramble them).

Although there is no such thing as perfect computer security (just like home security), there are many individual steps you can take to make your computers--and the valuable information they contain--safer. Maintaining physical security is one of them.