A public tick’ing off
Posted on 22. Nov, 2008 by Mike Halsey in security
Do you ever use computers in libraries, internet cafes, work, university or at friends’ houses to check your email, social networking profile or anything else for that matter? Are you unwittingly giving people, maybe even criminals, valuable information about yourself or worse, access to your files and accounts?
Nothing with the internet can ever be taken for granted. The scenarios above might seem worst case, but how are you to know who’s using that computer after you? It all comes down to one or two little boxes. You’ll see in the screenshot below (click the image for a full screen picture) the first of these, the innocuously named Remember me is usually ticked for you. Why? The owners of the website just want to make it easy for you to visit them again, this is harmless enough on the face of things, but you should never leave it ticked.
It’s easy to click through things on the internet, not really paying too much attention to what we’re clicking on. You should always be aware of this box and its evil twin, Remember my password, though. The next time you visit a website, remember about the twins and if the box or boxes on the log-in screen are ticked, please untick them.
it with others, or 
