My personal data and identity security on the computer repair shop?

What are you, you can read alarm. If you take the computer in for repair, your personal data at risk in the wrong hands, and it is possible victim of identity theft!

Most people do not think, and some people take for granted, but really, as I'm sure your personal information when you take the computer in for repair.

Hello, my name is Bill Arnone. I own my own computer repair company and have over 18 years experiencein IT management.

This is a question to me by my two consumers and business customers over the years.

Not all repair tech computer industry or the company responsible, ethical practices are not snooping on your computer for a client. There are some steps that you contact your personal and confidential data can minimize your compromise, but in general There is always some risk.

Here are some tips to reduceThe possibility of personal computer and personal information are stored in your hands to get ruthless.

There are two main components to address methods to improve the security of your personal computer, if your place in the hands of a technician or computer repair service provider.

The first component is to limit the amount of information provided in the computer serviceProvider-owned, if you give them to repair your computer. You can do this by using one or do both procedures.

Do not give it to them first. When the hard drive you can, take it from your computer and ask the technicians for their use another unit to carry out their repair. This is really only if the problem is not with the hard drive, as data corruption, errors or infection from viruses, malware orSpyware.

If your computer still boots, and you can program your TV, turn off all your usernames and passwords for all your programs, bots and web browsers. Move any personal files on an external backup device like a USB flash drive or hard drive. Then you can use a utility to securely erase all data erased from the hard drive to make sure it can not be restored. Think you delete it, simply by deleting the data once the data is not really, it is necessaryspecial software to make data can be fully restored.

If the disc is not an option under, try to plug another computer temporarily remove your personal data to another drive, while the repair of computers to write. Also, make sure that all temporary files that might contain personal information, such as the Web browser cache and other temporary locations Delete.

If none of these methods are practical for you, then youBuilding confidence and trust in your service provider.

The second component to ensure your personal information is safe with the computer repair person, is the determination of her integrity and to establish trust and comfort.

Here are some ways you can feel comfortable with the provider of computer services.

Find out how long they have done for computer repair. The longer the better. In theory, if dishonest and lackedIntegrity, they would probably not services.

What have the responsibility in the past? If you have experience in providing services to large companies, then you probably have a good track record for protecting customer data, because large companies require security for your data before doing a repair person on their systems.

Mechanisms are in place to prevent data theft or snooping on their activities? This does not necessarily meanapply to the individual technician, where the only person that the services, but for companies with more tech. It is recommended that policy and data protection mechanisms to limit the possibility of someone run with 'customer s. In reality, such safeguards are not 100% effective, but may serve as a deterrent. Ultimately, I think the only really safe way would probably be to strip search every technology before departureLocal. This did not happen, so it's a small risk is independent of the protection measures in place.

Receive certificates and references. Google is on the Internet. See if there are complaints about their treatment of personal data. Get recommendations from friends or referrals by looking at Tech, that someone else used successfully.

The sum of all these investigations is that you have enough or do research until you feel comfortable with the delivery of computerpersonal information about them to them.

Using this practice is not foolproof. I can not stress enough that the only way to guarantee bullet-proof your personal information and identity is not endangered, except to ensure that the computer repair company does not have access to it first. The reality is that in most cases, this simply is not practical or possible, especially if the correction of problems on your hard disk to restore functionality is whatrequired.

Finally, keep in mind that, in general, the majority of computer repair and service provider for the up-and-up. There are a couple of sour grapes in the crowd, but the rest of them are quite good.

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