What can I do to maintain privacy when working on a public computer?

What can I do to maintain privacy when working on a public computer?

Hacker X (Computer Security Expert) gives expert video advice on: Can someone track the websites I visit and why would they do it?; When I hit "delete" can someone still access that information or file?; How can I ensure that my files are stored securely? and more...

When working on a public computer, your security concerns are slightly different. It's not so much about the activities that you are doing while you are there, although the same rules certainly apply, but it's also about what you leave behind. When you leave that computer, you don't want to leave traces of what you've been doing and where you've been for fear of disclosing personal information. So for instance, a web browser uses something called a cache to help speed up the display of pages. Anything that's the same, it basically makes a copy of it and keeps it so the next time you go to that page, it doesn't have to load it again, it can just display it. Well that information is, essentially, a virtual paper trail of everywhere that you've been and can potentially include personal information that you wouldn't want someone to have. So, therefore, before logging off of or leaving a personal computer in a public situation, you want to manually clear that cache. It's not something that happens automatically. Same with e-mail or any system. You want to make sure you've completely logged out. Closing down an application does not necessarily mean you've logged out of an application or logged out of a website. You want to manually verify that and check to make sure you have done so.