Now I have been smart enough to never my solicitation emails on the company network.  However when I have traveled I have used the laptop and accessed adult sites, escort malls, TER, etc when I was on the hotel's network.

Its going to be changed out and upgraded.  What steps should I take to make sure its as clean as possible when I turn it in.

Thanks

Only way to be sure.

Well, not to be too harsh, but I'd say the first step is to learn from this and try to not do anything play-related on a company computer again.

I'd have something come up where you "accidentally" completely formatted the hard drive of the machine. (Repeatedly.) Plead carelessness or ignorance, or something. But I wouldn't turn it in with tracks all over it. Depending on what it is, how it is set up, and their refresh procedures; giving it a "light cleaning" of cookie deletion and such wouldn't prevent them from completely seeing your other interest.

Good luck.

or better yet, delete your user profile, and just check that you don't have anything saved under c drive root folder etc, reformatting is too much hazle

I would ask if you could buy it for home use.

what's inside.... I'd prepare a resignation letter just in case they give you that option, and not just fire you.
Maybe if you ever find a job where you have access to a computer again, and you want to play on the internet, Stick to websites like Sears.com, staples.com, or home depot.  
Not as much fun, but they won't abruptly end your career either.

You can find netbooks on sale at all the big box stores. The couple hundred is well worth it. You're playing with dynamite using a business computer.

Only way to be sure.  Never should you use your work computers for this game...unless you own the company, and have last say as to their use...

Don't assume your company does not trust you. Although they may be able to find something if they look, chances are that your IT dept is not interested and does not have the time to do an autopsy on your returned computer. They will likely reformat it for internal use or disposal of some sort outside the company. Checking every employees old computer for use policy infractions is an inefficient use of their time and money. Chances are that they have many other priorities.

That is not to say that they won't stumble on something, so clean it up as best you can.  If you are a good employee who does his job well, no one want s to lose you.

There are utilities, like provided by Western Digital, that will not only format the drive but overwrite the segments then format again.

If you've ever used recovery software...you'll KNOW how much you can actually get back when someone thinks the computer is "clean". Trust me.

Take the suggestion of getting a NetBook. Really...no offense....but using a work computer is pure insanity. You can't imagine the software that can be used to log what you do and even email it to your employer. Again...trust me on this.

... a low level reformat.

What were you thinking? you're spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to indulge in sinful pleasures, yet you do nothing to protect your safety and privacy?

ANYONE with discretion issues who uses their work computer, be it desktop, laptop, or friggin' crackberry-in-a-holster should be forced to spend a week in a locked room with a horny terrier humping their leg and marking turf while watching old video's of Richard Simmons teaching aerobic dancing to overweight grandmothers.

I would share the contents of my hard drive before I watched any videos of Richard Simmons. But then again, I don't use my work computer for hobby activity. Breathe in, and breathe out.

They are cheap and then its done!  If you do all the other stuff you have to reload windows anyway.  Start fresh and then its fool proof.

Look, I agree it shouldn't be illegal, but it is.
You really wouldn't mind exposing your company to the legal risks? And if he's doing this on company property, what else is he doing? Pretty poor judgement. Probably going to the porn sites with spyware and malware.

Just pointing out a lack of judgement isn't usually isolated. And you as a business owner need to protect yourself and your livelihood.

Having a second laptop is retarded and a give-away that you doing something. Just have a TrueCrypted drive and run firefox profile and other stuff from there. I had a virtual pc setup at some point when feeling paranoid, but now I don't even care that much and just store hobby info on TC partition, it  pretty much sufficient, though gotta be a little careful about where you store stuff and how you setup different programs. You guys worry so much about your boss finding out, yet give away all the info for screening to who knows who, talk about keeping priorities straight

Nice that you wouldn't fire employees however, sadly you are in the minority.  I signed my severance agreement and then found out I was let go for being a "40+ female".  Now I do what I love and love what I do! xoxK~

it does raise eyebrows, and draw suspicion.  One is my company computer, and one is my personal computer.

I've gotten the once over, more than once, where everything comes out of the bags and I am fully searched.  I fly frequently, so I'm used to it by now.  I'm on a first name basis with some of the TSA inspectors.  I think they use me as a training model, for the newer rookie TSA inspectors.

Oh, and the new full body scanners, dont even get me started on those.

Jaycee

-- Modified on 3/26/2010 8:20:01 AM

over use of company equipment / network for adult sites.  Many IT depts scan for "improper use" of network...  Also, the company laptop needs service, you hand it off to IT guy whose job it is to fix it...  he finds your hobby.  If you have a good job, don't jeopardize it over a hobby.

If the computer is not to be re-issued, you might be able to purchase it for it's depreciated value.  I know executives who bought all their office furnature...  for it's depreciated value.
skb  

and I was always careful to separate work and play.  TWO separate laptops! They are getting smaller and cheaper all the time. ~K

who does lease refresh as a MAJOR part of his job, I'd say as long as you clean your cookies & history, you should be fine.

Without cause they're not going to use forensic tools to try & find your data, your laptop is just going to go on the pile with the rest of the laptops going back that quarter.

If your company has outsourced it's IT, then they really won't care what you did with your laptop.

Unless you're expected to do your own data migration to the new laptop, anything like formatting/replacing the drive will just arouse suspicion, "what's he got to hide?"

Like I said, without cause nobody at your company probably cares enough to look into what you did with it.

would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment."

Many, many places would fire the person. It doesn't even have anything to do with the owners' personal stance on the issue. It is a business decision to limit liability. That is way more valid "plausible deniability" than our relying on a blank envelope as LE avoidance. The business owner can claim their workplace is clean as far as they know. It probably isn't clean, but they can say that with a straight face under oath because they've sacked anyone dumb enough to leave blatant traces for them to find.

In a ruthless Darwinian way, people don't get fired for having a liberated view of sex and P4P entertainment. They get fired for getting caught. So the moral of the story is not to be caught, which would lead the wise hobbyist to avoid work resources completely or absolutely know what they are doing and how to deal with it.

bballs is right.  The company computer is THEIR property and depending on your company it could get you fired.  Unless your a computer expert and are 120% sure you are leaving no trace than you are leaving one.  Get an iPhone, phone with web browser, netbook or tablet PC or some other way to access sites you would not want your boss to know you are on.  HUGE RISK to use a company computer.

You've never run across my evil twin Darth_Gonzo.
More machine than man, twisted and Evil.

best buy *e macine* cheap lil netbook for goofin around in the hobby will only drop you $240.00
much cheaper than losing your job.
Next report the company laptop as stolen. Get rid of it and then theres no trace. They may make you pay for it but no one is the wiser this way.

its just pure stupidity to use your work computer for hobbying. If I was your boss I'd fire you for it no doubt.

Without cause, no one is going to investigate at the "forensic" level. By "cause" I mean have you given your company reason to investigate you for non-authorized computer usage? If not, then stop worrying.

Clear your browser cookies.
Completely clean your browser history.
If you use non-standard browser for porn surfing (Firefox, Opera, Chrome, etc), delete that browser.
Delete porn movies.
Delete any tools you use for downloading porn - download managers, Torrent downloaders, etc.
Empty the Recycle Bin!!!

That oughta do it!

If you must use a computer you don't own, use the new "In Private Browsing" feature in Internet Explorer 8. This feature only keeps cookies, image & URL cache, and all other session related data as long as you have the browser open. Once you close the browser, all data is deleted.

Otherwise, the netbook route is the way to go.

Some applications leave behind some folders and small files with settings and such even if deleted using the standard deletion tools. Some files are left in the Applications or Program Files directory. Some files are left in your Documents or Documents and Settings folder for that app. IF you know what to look for (for each app) you can just drag those files to the trash and empty the trash.

CC Cleaner and some wiping wouldn't hurt after scouring for all files (images and video, etc)...

No dis-respect intended but you are so wrong.  The first thing the IT guys do in my company when they work on a machine is a complete image copy, then run a program against the image for improprieties.  Takes minimal resource and I have seen people walked out the door.

Anything that can be used to embarrass the company if it was made public will get you fired.

Cleaning cookies, history, temp. folders doesn't work, it's too late, tracking software has already caught you, and saved the information.  Reformatting the HD can't be done as the image is not accessible and some companies don't give out admin rights.  If you do, then it's possible but not at my company.

The best advice has already been given, don't use a company machine for anything related to porn, hobbying, etc.

GET A NETBOOK!!!



-- Modified on 3/27/2010 4:38:33 AM

I've worked at two Fortune 500 companies, both of which have outsourced their IT.

At the first, the refresh volume was high enough that there wasn't the time or resources to look at ANY of the machines that came through.  I'm talking pallet loads of equipment coming in & out on a weekly basis.

And at my current company, the one time I was asked to assist in something like this, the instructions I received was the most I could do was instruct the customer who requested it how to open the History folder.

While I appreciate that your company takes these things seriously, in my experience it hasn't been the norm without cause.

computer was used for e-mail and the other computer was used for presentations.  IT couldn't figure out how to do both functions with either of the two laptops.  I will say this was back when laptops first came on the scene.  IT dept. was very inexperienced as well.  Oh well, I managed by using the hotel business center for hobby stuff.