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My computer has a virus and my friends mom said she would fix it

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by colorful, May 15, 2012.

  1. colorful

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    So I got a laptop for Christmas and it got a virus on it. My friend's mom works with computers and said she would look at it for me.... my issue with this is basically all of my searches and what-not had something to do with being a lesbian. The mom of the girl I like wants to fix my computer filled with searches for... I mean... you know. Is there some way that I can like get rid of like everything? I mean I always delete my search history but isn't it like still on there? I dunno. I mean she knows I'm gay and she knows her daughter is gay.... I dunno.
     
  2. Maialuna

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    If your history is deleted I don't think they'd be able to see. I wouldn't worry if she did see it, anyway. Just relax. It'll be fine. :slight_smile:

    Unless her mom actually has issues with it? It didn't sound like she did by your question.
     
  3. Gerry

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    I'm pretty sure that if you delete your search history it wouldn't be on there so I think you should be fine. I'm not too knowledgeable about these things but I'm pretty sure that once the search history is removed it's gone for good.
     
  4. Dalmatian

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    Your browser generally leaves traces in three different ways: browsing history, accessible simply by typing something like "lesb" in the address bar; offline data like cookies and cached files accessible on hard drive (and likely to contain infected files); and downloaded files (also accessible on hard drive).

    So, to erase everything, just go to "clear private data" and mark everything (that will take care of the first two) and then open your download folder and delete problematic content from there too. Precise options depend on your browser. Also, of course, that leaves any content that you've downloaded and then moved somewhere else. And also you need to do this for each browser that you use.
     
  5. Jacket

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    While in theory it is possible to retrieve the search history, it won't be readily available.
    She'd have to put effort into going looking for it, which if she's fixing a virus issue I highly doubt she'll be interested in your search history.

    Essentially, it's pretty much gone and won't be a problem.
    Also unless I've missed something it doesn't seem like it'd be an issue if she knows you're gay? Unless you've been doing lots of searches for her daughter?
    I doubt it'd come up tbh.
     
  6. Salazar

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    Do EXACTLY what Dalmation said!
     
  7. Fumi

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    Once you computer is fixed, I suggest using the "Private browsing" mode on your browser, which, as far as I know, doesn't keep traces of the sites you visit.
     
  8. turtlestyle

    turtlestyle Guest

    Download ccleaner it's a really handy tool for deleting a lot of stuff that your computer stores that isn't all that important.

    the company that makes it is piriform.

    I've used it for quite some time.
     
  9. Ben

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    I'll just add that she's probably not going to be interested in your search history or anything. On my old computer, I had two admin accounts (one with a password), so that if I were to have anything happen to my computer, nobody would be able to look at my folders or anything anyway.
     
  10. Dalmatian

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    Err.. I kinda think this is probably not an issue anymore since the thread is four months old.

    But since we are here :slight_smile: Ben, your suggestion works only if you encrypt your files. Most people don't do that and that makes all files accessible. So basically, having a password only makes sure that nobody can log in as you, but everything can be read using that other non-protected account.