Personal Data protection and laptop repair

I

ivor james

Registered User
Messages
81
Hi ,

I have to get my laptop repaired,screen broken,not sure about Hard drive, after a pretty severe drop.

Anyway I have a lot of personal info on my laptop,which was previously password protected.

When the repair centre bypass my screen will they have access to my private info? Nothing illeagal!! Btw.!!

However there is my email on there plus correspondence with the bank etc.

Also I am now separated and there are links to online dating sites face book etc.

Just wondering,would anyone know if personal stuff can be accessed during repair.

Thanks.
 
Just also to say that the sites in question would have been closed down as always when I turned off the laptop,also if this is the wrong forum please move,

thanks.
 
If you have a local file that has all your user names and passwords stored which is not password protected then they should be able to get into your system . Most applications out their are breakable in terms of security and the guys in the shop would be the ones with some (maybe little)knowledge on how to break them.

If you go to a shop , more than likely they will be too busy to be browsing around your information. They would have your laptop plus another 20-30 behind you that needs to be fixed. If the shop needs to repair these ASAP so that they can get their money, then I cannot see them sitting idle looking at your files.

But I have seen on the UK TV where one of the companies installed a private Cam that came up everytime the machine was loaded and sent it into multiple repair shops. They found that most of the shops went through the data while only a small percentage did not.
 
alexandra12 said:
If you have a local file that has all your user names and passwords stored which is not password protected then they should be able to get into your system . Most applications out their are breakable in terms of security and the guys in the shop would be the ones with some (maybe little)knowledge on how to break them.

If you go to a shop , more than likely they will be too busy to be browsing around your information. They would have your laptop plus another 20-30 behind you that needs to be fixed. If the shop needs to repair these ASAP so that they can get their money, then I cannot see them sitting idle looking at your files.

But I have seen on the UK TV where one of the companies installed a private Cam that came up everytime the machine was loaded and sent it into multiple repair shops. They found that most of the shops went through the data while only a small percentage did not.
Click to expand...


An intersting anecdote,which dosent inspire confidence! But thanks for the info.
 
Since everyone knows how vital it is to have a backup (you do right?) then simply delete the data before you send it off for repair. You can't be sure what an idle techie will do
 
galleyslave said:
Since everyone knows how vital it is to have a backup (you do right?) then simply delete the data before you send it off for repair. You can't be sure what an idle techie will do
Click to expand...

Gary Glitter could attest to that!

Do you have access to a standard external monitor you could attach to the laptop? If so you could figure out if is still functional and backup/secure erase any sensitive personal data.
Leo
 
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