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Windows 7 check recently copied files
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Hi Georgia and welcome to the ForumView media item 647
Basically, the answer is effectively "NO" to your question. It would also help to know why you want to know this. Is it because you suspect a friend, roommate, or family member of snooping on your computer? or is it because you are or have sent out your Computer for repair and suspect the repair Tech of snooping? Do you suspect someone you know is accessing your Computer, or have you actually seen them log on to your Computer and caught them in the act of snooping?
It certainly would be helpful for us to know this informationl, so that we can effectively suggest some solutions that are workarounds. One of those most obvious is does your Computer have a Password on it? Many of my Clients, especially those who live in a house with roommates or family members refuse to put passwords on their Computers, since it's difficult for them to remember, they often lose things like paperwork with important information written on it, etc. The first step is to put a password on your Computer, or if you SHARE the Computer with 1 or more roommates, family members *kids especially*, the inconvenience of using a password to login to your Computer *Windows*, is well worth the peace of mind. Since we don't know your specific situation we'll continue.
With Password protection to your Computer being #1, the next issue is Physical Security. If you live alone, this is not a problem for most. However, if a Burglar breaks into your home or apartment and steals your Computer, he's got the keys to your Digital Kingdom, and it couldn't be easier to commit Identity Theft with that stolen information, and all he has to do is pick it up and carry it out of your house! If you live with roommates or family members and implicitly trust them--DON'T!! I've seen many roommates kicked out after I'd discovered that their Computer or Acccount was tampered with (we can tell if this was done); and a number of Divorces have ensued as well. If you have young kids or grandkids, you need to put your Computer or laptop in a locked secure room that only YOU have a key to and no one else.
Most likely, if you respond to my response here and tell us what exactly you are afraid of, we can help more. In the meantime, have a look at this discussion I found on another reputable forum:
https://askleo.com/can-i-tell-if-someone-has-copied-my-files/
Best of luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>
Basically, the answer is effectively "NO" to your question. It would also help to know why you want to know this. Is it because you suspect a friend, roommate, or family member of snooping on your computer? or is it because you are or have sent out your Computer for repair and suspect the repair Tech of snooping? Do you suspect someone you know is accessing your Computer, or have you actually seen them log on to your Computer and caught them in the act of snooping?
It certainly would be helpful for us to know this informationl, so that we can effectively suggest some solutions that are workarounds. One of those most obvious is does your Computer have a Password on it? Many of my Clients, especially those who live in a house with roommates or family members refuse to put passwords on their Computers, since it's difficult for them to remember, they often lose things like paperwork with important information written on it, etc. The first step is to put a password on your Computer, or if you SHARE the Computer with 1 or more roommates, family members *kids especially*, the inconvenience of using a password to login to your Computer *Windows*, is well worth the peace of mind. Since we don't know your specific situation we'll continue.
With Password protection to your Computer being #1, the next issue is Physical Security. If you live alone, this is not a problem for most. However, if a Burglar breaks into your home or apartment and steals your Computer, he's got the keys to your Digital Kingdom, and it couldn't be easier to commit Identity Theft with that stolen information, and all he has to do is pick it up and carry it out of your house! If you live with roommates or family members and implicitly trust them--DON'T!! I've seen many roommates kicked out after I'd discovered that their Computer or Acccount was tampered with (we can tell if this was done); and a number of Divorces have ensued as well. If you have young kids or grandkids, you need to put your Computer or laptop in a locked secure room that only YOU have a key to and no one else.
Most likely, if you respond to my response here and tell us what exactly you are afraid of, we can help more. In the meantime, have a look at this discussion I found on another reputable forum:
https://askleo.com/can-i-tell-if-someone-has-copied-my-files/
Best of luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>
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>>>You're quite welcome. Thanks for answering about the "why" you suspect the Tech on snooping. You didn't however answer me whether your Computer had a Password on it or not. In any case, you probably had to give the Tech your Password if you had one, and if he's not real sharp on computers, or just lazy, he might have had to call you for the Password if he forgot to ask you for it. I do this quite often. I have a program that lets me crack the Password to get into the computer and work on it.
As far as the "recently accessed" files and websites listed, this is from a temporary area in your Windows called "cache" or "temporary storage". As a rule, most Techs do not ever look in the "recently accessed" folder to see what you've been recently working on or what websites you frequently visit. This is because this folder holds unneccessary files which take up space on your computer and therefore take up unneeded space when we do library backups; so I almost always delete them without bothering to look at them.
The only 2 reasons that a Tech would go there and snoop through those files and websites listed would be if he is trying to search for something that caused the computer to fail; one example is that you got a virus from a file, website, or E-mail attachment. Techs will often search this folder to determine if you visited a bad website with known viruses, or look at file names that are known to harbor viruses; i.e. the infamous "I love you" or "Look at this great photo" files from major worldwide virus infections in the late 90s early 2000s. The other reason they might look there is to find if you have any online Banking sites listed or shopping sites such as ebay, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Paypal, etc. If your computer was set to "remember me" settings enabled, all the Tech has to do is find those places in your cache folder, visit the site and click "login" to access your online accounts.
In the 2nd scenario, if the Tech is dishonest, allegedly, you might ask yourself how you found out about him; was it through a personal referral from a friend, family member, or co-worker? Or did you just see a flyer on a local community bulletin board or the Yellow Pages? If you had a personal referral, your chances are good that he's trustworthy. However, if it's from a flyer or the Yellow Pages there are a few things you should look for. Does the Tech list "LOCAL REFERENCES AVAILABLE"? If so, hopefully, you called the Tech and asked for the references and called his former Customers to get a sense of his trustworthiness, fairness, etc. If not, I recommend at this point to ask for his Professional License or Credential. This is akin to asking a Contractor who you are about to pay $1,500 to for repairing a burst pipe in your kitchen wall for his Contractor's License.
Since I'm still guessing about your situation with this Tech, I'd recommend you ask him for his License now before going any further. He should have an A+ license number from CompTIA, the issuing Agency; otherwise he's not Licensed to work on Computers. If he gives you a License number, you can visit CompTIA's website and call them to check if the License is valid or not. If the Tech has your only Computer, you can PM me with his License number and I can do the validity check for you. If his License is not valid and they've never heard of him, I would drive down to his shop and pick it up today from him ASAP and take to a more reputable Tech or Repair Shop.
Regarding the pendrive or flashdrive, the article I provided a link to in my last post explains why you can't really know for sure if he's copied stuff to that device or not. You might want to re-read that section. The only way to know for sure if he's changed something on that device is if he's completely erased it, or he's added files or folders. Did he tell you he was going to backup or save files to that device? Did you ask him to save files to that device or not? Why do you suspect that he's done something to your pendrive? Did you give it to him with the laptop and he's given it back to you now and it looks different? What is your suspicion based on?
Looking forward to your further responses.
<<<BBJ>>>
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