There may come a time when your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone will need service and repair, which means that you will have to turn over your device to experts such as the technicians at A Plus Computers in Apple Valley. Should you take precautions with regard to privacy before leaving the equipment?
Keeping Your Data Secure During Computer Repairs
Your right to privacy is something that our shop technicians understand very well. When it comes to privacy, we have to recognize that we live in difficult times; earlier this year, unsealed court documents revealed that the Geek Squad section of Best Buy, one of the largest electronics retailers in the United States, had conspired with the FBI to carry out snooping and copying of personal data stored in computer devices left by unsuspecting customers to repair.
Understanding Your Rights Against Surveillance
The Geek Squad/FBI case has uncomfortable echoes of the mass NSA surveillance program that came to light due to the whistleblowing actions of Edward Snowden. The trust between government agencies and the public has been broken, and the Best Buy incident exacerbates the situation.
Let’s say your Windows 10 laptop is acting up and you are concerned about your privacy. If you do not wish to provide a login password, you should create a standard or guest account for the technicians to use; in this fashion, you can log out of your Microsoft Account completely and let our technicians work without having access to your files.
Your privacy is very important to us; if you would like to learn more about secure backups and data encryption using the Microsoft BitLocker utility, contact A Plus Computers today. Safeguarding your data privacy before your computing device requires repairs is always a good idea.
