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??????????????????????????????? ( ) ) Abstruse Authors of Merca ( ( ) ??????????????????????????????? Presents Data Snooping : the Right Way ----------------------------- by Lee Day Data snooping is a popular passtime among personal computer users in North Merca. A data snooper may be defined as one who examines friends' personal, private data while they are not looking. Most users could probably be labeled data snoopers at one time or another. The problem is, many friends are made aware of data snooping activities on their system, either by catching the snooper in the act, or by finding traces of an invasion. Therefore, some public education is necessary to ensure the continuation of this enriching activity. During a "local" snoop, one must be on the alert for the return of the data's owner. If the snooper hears the return of the owner, he should act quickly to appear innocent. Here are several methods : 1) Set up a multi-tasker, and switch to an innocent partition. Caution : The owner may notice a lack of memory, or may switch to the incriminating partition. 2) Call a memory-resident pop-up screen. Programs such as BOSS-SW.COM zip a bogus spreadsheet on the screen. Problem : you may have a hard time explaining your activity, particularly if you are using the owner's computer and he does not have a spreadsheet program. 3) Turn the screen off. Not very effective if the owner turns the screen on again. 4) Reboot. This may be accomplished by "accidentally" tripping the power switch, or making an excuse for rebooting, such as a need for "fresh RAM". If the owner has keen eyes, he may thwart a snooper with a time/date stamp. Some programs automatically create or update files during execution without the user's permission. The snooper's best bet is to avoid these programs, or write-protect the disk. A hard disk may even be write-protected with the use of a trojan horse detector called "BOMBSQAD", which prompts the user for instructions every time a disk-writing attempt is made. If a time-date stamp is actually updated, and looks suspicious, the snooper may change it using Norton's utilities, or a special date-changing utility. He may also delete any newly created files. Of course, a data snooper should NEVER modify the owner's files. This would be the equivalent of cutting the balls off the gander that laid the goose that laid the golden egg. Surely the snooper would gain much more from repeated instances of data snooping than a few moments of revenge or tease. Remember : Data snooping can be an enriching, exciting activity, if approached with an attitude of maturity. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ) Written by Lee Day for Abstruse Authors of Merca ( ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????