Computers > TipsOctober 16, 2008

Be Sure Your Home Computer Is Password Protected

Most people keep password on their work computer, but few keep passwords on their home computers.

However, one should keep passwords on their home computer as well, and keep them separate from those at their workplace. Should someone access your home computer without consent, they would have access to your email, bank accounts and possible more information. It doesn't have to be done by a thief breaking into your home. It can be done by a small child playing with the computer who "accidently" places a bid on your ebay account to a babysitter or friends of your child who are visiting.

I once experienced a family member (young adult with issues) who got into my computer and sent out nasty emails from our account to others, made bids on our ebay account, sent money bill pay and got into our paypal.

A simple action of having a password would have prevented it all.

By April from NW Missouri

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10/18/2008

How do you do a password on Windows? Ok, I know ....... but I am in lalaland ...

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10/16/2008

I keep a book on my book shelf--not any ordinary book, it contains copies of my passwords I use for different things in the computer.

I do not have any passwords clicked to save, thus being much safer. We used to have a password to unlock that I would change monthly. Come on, my kids were smarter than me when learning the computer in the mid 90s. They would soon figure out the password. Esp. since there are so many websites to access and do things with. SO we established a household password that is used for all NON secured sites where it was not important.

Important sites that could create damage, cost us money, etc ARE kept secret and put away. I made a copy of the printed pages and put the CD away in the archive disks. If I don't remember off the top of my head what a password was, I check it when alone. Even my husband does not know any passwords except to get into his EBAY account. He does not do purchasing, that is my job.
And to keep things safe, he uses the laptop when on the internet and I use the desktop. Easier to clear history weekly that way. We each bookmark what we want on the computer we use.

Nice thing now, my children keep security just as tight as I do. If you want to use mom's computer, you follow the rules. This is good for when the teens were online, etc. They were not allowed to be secretive, etc and not be in viewing site of me. Privacy yes, secluded--no. I always made a point to ask who was online with them, to tell them hello from mom--and my BOYS would do that.

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