|
"I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT A COMPUTER..."
Don't be intimidated by the computer. Most of the information on this page will be written, so that a beginner can understand, and if you don't, please feel free to email. This information is written for the use of Microsoft's operating systems, such as XP and VISTA.
SIMPLE CHECKS FIRST...
HOW TO CHECK THE HISTORY Click on the clock icon on the top menu bar (unfortunately this is usually the first thing that they clear) A drop down screen will appear on the left with all the sites that have been visited.
HOW TO CHECK THE PREFETCH FILE This is a temorary file that holds information.
go to your C:/ drive
click on Windows
look for the prefetch file
HOW TO CHECK TEMP FILE IN LOCAL SETTINGS
go to your C:/ drive
click on Document and Settings
click on user name
Click on local settings (sometimes this will be a hidden file, if so you need to go to tools, then click on folder options, then click on view and find the box that says SHOW ALL FILES AND FOLDERS.)
click on the temp
HOW TO CHECK MY RECENT DOCUMENTS ( this is where you find photo's or documents that have been recently opened). Many people will forget to delete this.
go to your C:/ drive
click on document and settings
click on user name
Click on MY RECENT DOCUMENTS ( this is another folder that is usually hidden, so be sure you've got the option to show all folders clicked like we just did for TEMP FILE IN LOCAL SETTINGS)
MORE SEARCHING Information...
HOW TO RETRIEVE DELETED EMAILS FROM HOTMAIL/YAHOO ACCOUNTS. Those emails are stored on hotmail/yahoo servers not on your computer. However images of those emails do reside on your computer for a short period of time as HTML files in the Temporary Internet Files folders.
go to C:/
click on DOCUMENT SETTINGS
click on the USER ID
click on LOCAL SETTINGS
click on TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES
Using XP in the top tool bar you can also click on TOOLS, then click on INTERNET OPTIONS, then click on SETTINGS (under Temporary Internet files). You should see hundreds of files here. If there are not, this could be a red flag that they are deleting their tracks.
Once you are in the right folder you need to look for HTML files from hotmail/yahoo/aol , etc.
HOW TO RECOVER THE DELETED HTML TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES. Sometimes you can still find some of the deleted HTML files by using a recovery data program. Recover My Data is one of those programs. The demo version is free and that is all you'll need for this purpose. The full version runs $70, but with that you can actually recover the file. It isn't necessary to recover. All you need to do is view them in most cases.
Understand that the search can take a considerable amount of time, sometimes several hours for the more in-depth searches.
HOW TO CHANGE SETTINGS ON "TEMPORARY INTERNET FILE" SO THAT INFORMATION WILL STAY LONGER.
In XP, you will open your browser (Explorer). On the top tool bar choose TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS. Look for SETTINGS under Temporary Internet Files. You should see a "move the slide bar" under Amount of Disk Space to Use on the left. Slide the bar to increase the disk space allotted to this folder.
Anyone that knows computers at all will be cleaning this folder regularly.
HOW TO FIND DELETED INFORMATION FROM "HISTORY". History files are usually the first thing that are deleted to hide tracks.
You are going to look at the "index.dat" file. You'll first have to download an index.date file reader. GOOGLE that term and you will find several free ones to download.
You will find the "index.dat" file by going to C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
HOW TO FIND HIDDEN FILES OR FOLDERS.
Using XP open any folder on your computer, then on the top menu select TOOLS, then FOLDER OPTIONS. Then click on the VIEW tab and again check the button that says SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS.
BASIC COMPUTER HELP SITES
10 MOST DANGEROUS THINGS TO COMPROMISE SECURITY
www.secure-computing.info/
PASSWORD CHANGER
www.password-changer.com
MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEM HELP
http://support.microsoft.com, then type in key word to search
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SEARCHES ON EMAIL, CELL PHONES, ADDRESSES, ETC go to the TECH LINK page.
DON'T FORGET TO ADD THE HOME PAGE TO YOUR FAVORITES SO THAT YOU CAN GET BACK TO THIS SITE.
Contact us for more info
|
