Watching you secrets windows tells.

• Author: Sanders, James A.
• Position: Snoopware

More than 75 percent of U.S. firms monitor their employees' phone calls, e-mails, Internet activities and computer files. This is according to a 2001 survey by the American Management Association.

How do they do it? (Or, how can you do it?)

Software known as "snoopware," allows users to engage in real-lime monitoring of someone's computer usage, including reading their e-mail and providing screen shots of documents they are preparing. Also, your current operating system and Web browser store information about you that can recreate most all of your recent computer activities. (For more on snoopware, see sidebar, Page 24.)

Information about where you went, what you saw and how long you stayed is readily available in several sub-directories on your hard disk, courtesy of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. Want to know where someone has been? Take a look here:

FAVORITES

Favorites is another term for bookmarks (the term used in Netscape), and was popularized by Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. It provides a list of frequently visited sites on the Internet (or network). You can find this information on your PC in C:\WINDOWS\Favorites.

HISTORY

A history feature tracks user commands and retrieved items so that they can be quickly reused or reviewed. Web browsers maintain a list of downloaded pages so that you, and anyone who accesses your computer, can quickly review everything that you have retrieved. This information is located in C:\WINDOWS\History.

TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES

You may have noticed a folder on your hard drive, located inside the Windows folder, named Temporary Internet Files. If you surf the Internet somewhat regularly, you may notice that the Temporary Internet Files folder grows in size. This folder is better known as a "cache."

The cache is a part of your Web browser that helps it load Web sites more rapidly. When you visit a Web site for the first time, your Web browser has to retrieve various files that are required to view that Web site. If there are many files to acquire, or if some of them are large, it takes more time for that site to be displayed in your browser.

If you return to that Web site, your browser will use the files in the cache, rather than downloading them again. It's more efficient because it allows the site to load more quickly.

To protect against snoops, you can delete the contents of the cache safely, without fear of it harming your computer. Web browsers give you the option of cleaning out the...