what about mom?

need to hide your pr0n? xp pro supports file encryption on ntfs formatted drives; unfortunately home edition does not. there are two ways you can encrypt file/folder contents for security (your user account needs to have a password enabled for these to work). option one, right-click a folder or file, select "properties," click the "advanced" button and check the box "encrypt contents to secure data." the second option is through the dos command "cipher." type "cipher /e /a c:\temp" to encrypt our folder. type "cipher /d /a c:\temp" to decrypt our folder. you can encrypt/decrypt "files" as well, although it is better practice to only work with folders, and any files added to the folders over time will be automatically encrypted. this should prevent any other user from accessing the contents of files or viewing images, although they may still be able to see the filenames in windows explorer. encrypted files are only accessible to the account that encrypted them or admins (but they can still be deleted). if you're using xp home edition, your best bet is to burn your sensitive files onto a disc and hide it somewhere.

your personal folder (c:\documents and settings\username) should be private from every other user account except the administrator's. another way to protect files that other people do have access to is through compression, or "zipping" the file and then password protecting it. this is supported in home edition, but the annoying thing about it is that it makes the files less convenient for you to access yourself. just select multiple files you want to compress in explorer, then right-click and choose the option to "send to > compressed (zipped) folder" and it will copy the files to a zipped folder. you can delete the original files, then navigate inside the compressed folder, and use the explorer menu to choose "file > add a password."

another cool way to hide information is through steganography, the idea of hiding things like secret messages within digital images (it's how h4x0rs pass notes!). it's not hard at all with the help of any decent image editing software, such as the commercial photoshop or freeware gimp (gnu image manipulation program); it could be as simple as embedding/reading copyright information within the image (only those receiving the image would probably know to look for it anyway right?). for example, right-click on image in explorer and select "properties", followed by the "summary" tab. there should be fields labeled:

title

subject

keywords

comments

it's not the most secure way to hide a message, but a lot more effective than you may think.

you should be paranoid in real life as well. you never know who might be watching. for example, eat all of your food with silverware, or rip it into bite-sized pieces. not only will this preserve flavor, but also prevent any dental records form being left behind.

the more complex method would be to find a good programming language that allows you to work with images, or there is also a way you can make it so simply highlighting an image will reveal hidden text (along the same lines of using white text on a white background with html). some websites even offer such scripts, where you can upload an image to embed a secret message, then whoever you send it to can visit the same website to read it, kind of like a digital greeting card or something along those lines.

does your internet provider make you connect to the internet using their software, which slows down your computer and displays a bunch of crap you'd rather not see? all you really need to connect to the internet is an access number, a user account name, and password (unless you're on a high-speed connection). if you double-click the "internet options" icon in your control panel, and select the "connections" tab, you can setup your connection directly and avoid using your internet provider's software altogether (and i highly recommend doing so). this should also get you around any restrictions or tracking that the isp may be hiding in their software.