Trusting others to repair a computer


  1. Posts : 218
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    Trusting others to repair a computer


    Who can you trust? What's to stop a computer repair shop from "disk snooping" if you leave it with them?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,465
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #2

    Effectively nothing can stop a computer tech from snooping into your data once you hand your computer to them. It's a very real risk and there is littel you can do about it. Your best option is to get someone you know and trust to look after your computer without any second intention.
    Or just learn the tricks yourself and get rid of the techs altogether

    It's a very real problem and applicable in any field really. A mechanic repairing your car can "spy" anything in it or do a negligent job or not do anything at all and lie to you. Or what prevents people you hired for repairs in your home to rob you? In any case some degree of trust is a must, and I would say that's better if you know the people beforehand or some relative or friend recommends him.

    Back to the computer field, a partial solution is to put all your private data in a second physical disk and pull it before shipping for repairs. I think it's a poor solution because you first need to know how to pull the disk yourself, and it may misled the tech if the problem was caused by that second HD. Also, private data many times stays in the main HD anyway. And for owners of many notebooks, two hard disks is outright impossible.

    Full disk encryption is another technique used to prevent snooping. Mostly useless here too, if the tech needs to perform some software repairs he will need access and the description key, hence defeating the purpose, or he cannot properly perform his work.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 203
    Linux
       #3

    Alejandro85 pretty much is spot on about trust and it is sad that it is hard to find trustworthy people in today's repair industries.

    I'm the IT Tech in all my family and friends etc and I find it cool that everyone has faith and trust in my ethics and honesty. :)

    If users would learn to do an image of their hard drive than they could attempt to repair their computer and if they break it than they or someone can easily restore to its last working image.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6,021
    Win 7 HP SP1 64-bit Vista HB SP2 32-bit Linux Mint 18.3
       #4

    Hi debodun,

    I think it has pretty much been covered by the guys above.

    You could however export the important/sensitive folders/files to an external HDD or USB before the computer goes to the repair shop, or encrypt the important/sensitive folders/files before the computer goes to the repair shop.

    I hope this helps!
      My Computer


 

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