Tuesday, December 4, 2012

How to use a shared PC

      As for some of those times when all you have brought with you is just your smart phone and you need access to a PC. In every techies mind using a public computer can feel as disgusting as a port-a-potty not like dirt everywhere but cluttered with malware, someone not logging out of their email or the most popular someone downloading useless programs and toolbars. In this post I want to show you what to do you avoid those problems and potential risks of your account being taken.
 
      1. Use safe mode as it does not run excess programs like tool bars so if you know that the PC is free but is bloated give safe mode a try. However the downside to safe mode is that fine tuned malware can still run or block other programs.  To get into safe mode on a Windows PC after the bios has loaded press F8 repeatedly then press enter on safe mode with networking.
 
       2. Use a virtual environment this is one of the most secure methods of using another PC however if you are using another user account which does not allow executable files this method is useless. One program to use to prevent potential malware is Sandboxie as it runs programs and files in a virtual environment. You should use this method if you are doing potential risky things to prevent the spread onto other computers and prebvent man in the middle attacks
      3. Boot from something other than the boot drive like a DVD or USB drive. Certain Linux distros allow you to boot and try the operating system directly from the drive without even touching another drive. You will want to keep in mind as public computers can have a policy to prevent users from doing this as thus has been said consider your self warned.

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