Run a Background Check on Yourself Part 2

If you haven't already, check out my first article on how to Run a Background Check on Yourself. Go ahead I'll wait...
If you have ever wondered what information is available about you on the web and in public records I have found the perfect article for you Top 24 People Search Sites and Email Address Directories. While my previous article shows you how to get all the medical, credit, and insurance information available on you, the People Search Sites listed will show you what you have left behind online. Hopefully by now people are starting to wise up about where and how much information they put out into cyberspace, but it has been slow going. For example just consider how many people have been fired or denied employment for the things they post on their blog or Myspace account. While you may have control of deleting items you post to your accounts there is little or no control of what other people do with the information before you have deleted it, not to mention your information is likely to still be archived by thousands of search engines long after you have taken the information down. Your best safeguard is to think about everything you post before you post it, and remember that everything that you do post is permanent.
The next best thing if you really must post something that you are afraid will come back to haunt you is to post it under a pseudonym and do not link anything in your sensitive posts back to your true identity. This includes monetizing features like google adsense or adbrite. These may be linked back to you. Even creating a separate adsense or adbrite account may not help you if these accounts are linked back to your bank and tax ID.

Social Networking Websites May Keep your Deleted Photos

Have you ever deleted a photo from a social networking website like Facebook or MySpace? Did you think that was the end of it? You might just be wrong. According to an article on BBC many of the websites take the easy way out. When you delete the photo from the website it appears to actually go away, such as when viewed from the photo album, however the file still exists on their servers until it is overwritten by other files.

A similar thing happens when deleting a file from your personal computer, the shortcut or link to the file goes away, according to the operating system anyway, however the file is still on your computer and easily retrievable using free software such as freeundelete. You don't even need to be a forensics expert. While this is great when you want to recover something you accidentally deleted it can become a problem if you want to get rid of something permanently. Your best bet is to use a file shredding or wiping utility. One of my favorites is Evidence Eliminator which I have tested myself. You can even download a free demo of Evidence Eliminator and test it yourself. Evidence Eliminator will overwrite your deleted files a number of times making it unretrievable. More on the use of file shredders later, for now please read the article on BBC: Websites 'keeping deleted photos'

Hidden Safes

I'm sure everyone has seen those wonderful hidden safes, things like beer cans, shaving creme containers and fake electrical outlets...
Well, I have just seen one of the most innovative and hilarious 'hidden safes' EVER! I couldn't seem to get the picture to load here so click on this link --> http://www.spyville.com/brief-safe-underwear.html for a "brief" look at what I'm talking about.
I will do a real 'how to' post on hiding things around the house, but for now a giggle will have to do.