Can they get my info?

Question

I gave my mom our old computer b/c we bought a newer one last year. She decides to give it to her EX hubby which I plainly told her NOONE gets it if she doesnt want it to give back to me. Anyway she calls me asking me what my security answer was to this question. She said he needed logging on. Can he get all of my info and things I dont want him having doing this??? IM SO MAD and WORRIED I dont trust my step dad at all

Let me add I HATE HIM he is sooo crooked and sooo not trustworthy I DONT TRUST HIM he really done my grandfather wrong and whole family. He stole LAND and is trying to get the house they lived in which is all FAMILY LAND AND EVERYTHING he is a crook im sooo worried sorry had to vent

Answer 1

Your best bet is to get it back or go to where ever the computer is at and wipe it cleaner. Yes they can bring up about anything you ever put on the computer as well as other things.

I my self would do all this below and tell them you are just making the computer better for them. What you actually are doing is erasing left over stuff that you may do not even know about.

First of all what I have done is try to help you and all others get there computer back to how it should be. All the statements as seen below are very helpful and essential steps to help you as well as maintain your computer now and in the days to come.

There is no set speed that your computer should be running at. What happens is your computer will never run as fast as it did when you first brought it home and hooked it up. We all add programs and install software, this is one reason that a computer gets slower and slower. Once we delete or uninstall a program as well there is always part of it left behind on our hard drive. There for you will need to do a total clean out and clean up to recover your lost speed.

Now before I get into the how 2's this program will help monitor your speed and clear the ram to boost the speed. You need FreeRam XP Pro. Read about it here as well as download it for FREE. http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fi... Guaranteed to help you.

Below is how to do this and keep id running much faster. This is long, so you may want to also print this page for later.

How to clean up a computer and keep it running smooth and what you need to do.

Click on My Computer icon and locate your hard drive (Local Disc C or ?)

Right Click on the icon that represents your (Hard Drive). At the bottom of the drop down window Click on Properties.

Click on the tab (Disk Cleanup) and allow this to run the cycle.

Once complete Click on the tab above (Tools). Now click on the (Defragment Now) tab. Once again allow this to complete the cycle. Once done Click on the Tab (Check Now) tab. This will check for errors and repair them.

Now once again (Click on the My Computer Icon) and then (Right Click on the Hard Drive Icon). Now look for the file called (Programs File) and Left Click on it to open it up. Look for any programs that you do not have installed or may have deleted. These simply have been left behind and never un-installed. Delete any you do not need.

Now you have gotten lots of junk off of your computer. Turn off your computer to end this cycle. Once your computer shuts down, restart it. (This step is very important as you do have to end the cycle).

You now will need to clean out your REG System. (You can not do this with out software). These files are tracks for all your activity you ever have done on your computer as well as installed and uninstalled programs and just lots of Junk Files as well as old shortcuts..

Click this link and download http://www.ccleaner.com and install this program. It's FREE as well as safe. No Pop Ups or SpyWare as well as AdWare.

Run this program once installed and all the junk will be removed from your computer. Left over Short Cuts, left over deleted files etc. To start with this program sellect (The Cleaner tab at top Left) now at the bottom (Click on Analyze) let it complete the cycle. (Click on Run Cleaner) and wait till finished. Now (Click on the Issues tab) and at the bottom of page (Click Scan for Issues) wait and see what really is slowing down your computer! (Click on fix sellected Issues) and you have just overhauled your system.

Shut down your computer once again and restart it.

You now have a clean computer. Run the CCleaner once a week and keep your computer like new.

Here are a few useful add on software programs you might consider downloading if you do not already have them. Please keep in mind that none of these programs come with SpyWare, AdWare or Pop Ups. They are all 100% FREE and extremely very useful.

(1) Windows Defender http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx... Windows Defender is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spy ware and other potentially unwanted software.

(2) CWShredder. http://www.download.com/3000-8022_4-1030... Eliminate an insidious pest that Spybot http://www.spywarebot.com/ and Ad-aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ can't stop.Even if your PC has Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, you still can't stop some versions of an insidious and virus-like pest called CoolWebSearch.

CWShredder finds and destroys traces of CoolWebSearch. CoolWebSearch is a name given to a wide range of different browser hijackers. Though the code is very different between variants, they are all used to redirect users to coolwebsearch.com and other sites affiliated with its operators.

The CoolWebSearch Trojan installs dozens of bookmarks, mostly to porn sites on your desktop; it also adds a tool bar to Internet Explorer and changes your home page without asking. Furthermore, it significantly slows down the performance of your PC, and introduces some modifications which cause Windows to freeze, crash or randomly reboot.

Hope this has helped you as well as all other readers.

Answer 2

Well, he could but it's not the easiest thing in the word to recreate erased documents from a hard drive. It's likely not something someone would bother to do but I don't know your situation.

Maybe you could offer to go over there yourself and set the computer up. That way you can delete information you don't want him having that might still be on the computer. Clear the temporary files, cookies and check hidden folders and shared files. Also make sure to clear out your internet's history and cache.

If you're really worried you can do a system restore and that will keep any snoop from seeing your old documents, files and information.

Answer 3

You are SO screwed!

If you didn't wipe the drive 12 times in a low level format, he (prolly, his 'friends') all have your personal data, and more importantly, your financial/banking info!

Oh, what the clueless don't know DOES hurt them!

You only need the hard drive, and you can let him keep the rest of the parts.

Then I will tell you how to hook it into your current computer, and wipe it out, and use it for more storage space, or give it to a stranger... Well, evidently, there is no one stranger than your step dad! Just that, this time, it will be actually safe to dispose of!

Answer 4

yeah anyone can see your info if they log in and if you left it on there and didnt delite it before you gave it away if i was you i would have used to restore cds and then reinstall all the factory settings that way they coulent get you info but theres slight chance the can get it back if they have a restore program such as norton ghost and symantec ghost so yeah ask for it back them restore the whole computer then give it back say you left some info on there you wanted and needed for a job

Answer 5

You had better start changing all the passwords to every site you subscribed to. Most importantly any and everything to do with your financial info.

Answer 6

I'm sorry I do not know. What was your Mother thinking ???
Are you sure you don't want to reclaim it and your problem would be over for good as far as step dad goes.
GOOD LUCK !!!

Answer 7

UR SCREWED if you gave it them, but there are people educated enough to get passed simple pasword screens regardless. You should choke your mom out for that.

Answer 8

you should have cleaned out your computer b4 giving it to anyone... you can clean your pc out & erase everything .. its different on some pc on how to do it.. when turn puter on when the blue screen pops up quickly hit f10 & then you can turn your pc back to the way it was when you bought it... if you have trouble doing it then call the company and explain to them that you want to clean out pc & they should walk you through it... i wouldn't give him ANY info ...go over & clean pc out . then he can put his own info into it