Privacy problem with Vista recently opened files

P

pvc

I have a Privacy problem with Vista’s list of recently opened files.

I have already unchecked the box to Store and display a list of recently
opened files in Start Menu, and Windows has stopped showing these files on my
desktop. However, my sensitive filenames still exist in the Vista search
folders, here->(Users/myname/Searches/Recent....).

So I deleted all of the (Recent....) folders in the Searches folder. That
seemed to fix part of the problem. However, my sensitive filenames still
exist in the specific Vista search folder named “Indexed Locationsâ€. I tried
rebuilding the search index but these filenames still persist, even in the
newly rebuilt index. The actual files exist on a disk that is NOT INCLUDED
in indexing. They seem to be included because they are recent, and not
because they are being indexed.

How can I get rid of the recently opened filenames in this specific Vista
search folder named “Indexed Locations� Will these filenames go away over
time as they become “not-recent†after a certain number of days.

Or, do I have to reinstall Vista and then IMMEDIATELY un-check the box to
Store and display a list of recently opened files? If I un-check this box
BEFORE I open any files will that keep them from getting permanently listed
in the “Indexed Locations†folder?
 
P

pvc

pvc said:
How can I get rid of the recently opened filenames in this specific Vista
search folder named “Indexed Locations� Will these filenames go away over
time as they become “not-recent†after a certain number of days?

Or, do I have to reinstall Vista and then IMMEDIATELY un-check the box to
Store and display a list of recently opened files? If I un-check this box
BEFORE I open any files will that keep them from getting permanently listed
in the “Indexed Locations†folder?

Hmmmmm; Silence..
Oh okay Grasshopper, I get it. Must be some sort of Zen thing.

Well this situation is intolerable with my sensitive filenames being
displayed. So I will try reloading Vista from the beginning and then
IMMEDIATELY un-check the box to Store and display a list of recently opened
files. I'm hoping that will keep my private filenames out of the recent
portion of the “Indexed Locations†folder.

What a pain! I have already reloaded several times trying to address this
problem.
 
G

GreenieLeBrun

pvc said:
Hmmmmm; Silence..
Oh okay Grasshopper, I get it. Must be some sort of Zen thing.

Well this situation is intolerable with my sensitive filenames being
displayed. So I will try reloading Vista from the beginning and then
IMMEDIATELY un-check the box to Store and display a list of recently
opened files. I'm hoping that will keep my private filenames out of
the recent portion of the "Indexed Locations" folder.

What a pain! I have already reloaded several times trying to address
this problem.

Turn off indexing perhaps?
 
D

David Morgan \(MAMS\)

pvc said:
Hmmmmm; Silence..
Oh okay Grasshopper, I get it. Must be some sort of Zen thing.

Well this situation is intolerable with my sensitive filenames being
displayed. So I will try reloading Vista from the beginning and then
IMMEDIATELY un-check the box to Store and display a list of recently opened
files. I'm hoping that will keep my private filenames out of the recent
portion of the “Indexed Locations†folder.

What a pain! I have already reloaded several times trying to address this
problem.


There are so many inherent privacy issues with VISTA that the Federal
Government refuses to use it..... but I have no doubt that they forced
these anomalous design requirements onto Bill Gates in order to allow
him to keep selling the Microsoft OS while complying with Ze Department
of Ze Homeland Zecuuurrrrrity.

Once you get deep into your system, you will see scripts generated
and logged, and likely cloned again, for virtually every move you make.

My opinion is my own.
 
P

pvc

Success! My private filenames no longer appear in the “Indexed Locationsâ€
folder. It’s not perfect because the filenames still appear in the
“everywhere†searches folder. But I can clean that folder and it stays
clean until I perform another search. Note that I use multiple disks and the
filenames in question do not reside on my Primary/Indexed disk.

Steps I used:
1) Re-install Vista
2) Disable System Restore points (see explanation below)
3) Disable the two recent file display options in Menu
4) Insure that indexing applies only to my C: disk and not my other disks

I don't need Restore points because I backup my C: disk using disk image
backups. Besides, when I left restore points enabled it increased the size
of my image backups by almost 10-Gig. Wow, that really slowed down my image
backups. During this re-install of Vista I wiped my entire C: drive because
I don't trust that the leftover/dormant restore points might not have
resurrection capability in the future.

btw: I had tried disabling indexing in a prior install. Search did some
unexpected things without it.

Antec P182 || GA-P35C-DS3R || QX9650 3.0GHz /w Thermalright Ultra-120
eXtreme w/Scythe KAMA PWM Fan || 2x2GB Mushkin 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800 || ECS
8800GT w/ARCTIC COOLING Accelero S1 + Turbo Fans || WD180GB + WD500GB Sata
3.0Gb/s || SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM psu || Vista 64-Bit Home Premium || Lite-On
20X DVD
 
P

pvc

Aside from disabling the two recent file display options in Menu (see
previous post) this is what I ended up doing to disable indexing:

Start / Control Panel / Indexing Options…
Click the Modify button
Click the Show All Locations button
Start / Computer …
Right button click your disk and select properties
Uncheck the box to “Index this drive for faster searchingâ€
This takes a long time because it has to change properties for each and
every file.
You cannot change properties on some protected files so you may have to use
ignore-all.

So technically I am still indexing but I am indexing nothing. I can still
use search (the old slow search) but then I have to cleanup afterwards (for
privacy purposes) by deleting the search folder,
here->(Users/myname/Searches/Everywhere).
 

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