# Hiding Porn, windows Vista
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 4, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247 "2008-01-04T07:13:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pilzner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilzner)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/1 "2008-01-04T07:13:06Z")
Hey, been a long time since I wrapped at ya. I recently got a new laptop w/ vista, and I feel totally lost. Aside from using it for the usual wireless coffee internet tool, I want to store a ginormous amount of porn on the thing. Pics, vids, you name it.
Now - I’m not talking the usual. I’ve heard the whole clear internet history thing, clear autocomplete, mozilla, etc. I am _not_ worried about internet browsing. That info is for marketing folks. I’m talking actual files, on a computer, that I do not want anyone else knowing about.
I have two user accounts - and I noticed that user1 (admin) can access everything, but user2 (generic grunt) can only see his documents. Good start. Now - why on earth does ever potential account show up when I boot up the thing?? Any way to turn that off?? I mean, if I made a user, titled HotClam6969, designated specifically for porn, I would not like my gf to see that when she bootz up to shop on amazon. That, itself, is incriminating. Can I _hide_ user accounts?? Even if I name it something inconspicuous, lets face it, when someone sees you have 4 different logins made on your comp, alarms will sound.
Can I have 2 admin accounts, who can’t see each others files? When I hunt for porn, its with a dir \*.jpg \*.div3 \*.mpg _porn_ \*.otherExtentsions /s /b. Novices can’t hide that shit. How do I???
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/2 "2008-01-04T08:23:38Z")
Get a flash drive (or twelve 😃 ), and keep your files on it.
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/3 "2008-01-04T08:34:14Z")
Missed the edit window…should have said USB flash drive. Info [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive) if you’re not familiar with them.
---
### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/4 "2008-01-04T08:44:19Z")
Also get Truecrypt (it’s free) so even if she finds the flash drives, she won’t know what’s on them.
---
### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/5 "2008-01-04T08:54:31Z")
Or you could just use [it](http://www.truecrypt.org/) on your HD and forego the expense of extra hardware.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/6 "2008-01-04T09:02:05Z")
Set it up to dual-boot with a Linux-based OS such as Ubuntu - set yourself up as admin and your gf as user. She won’t be able to see your files. Also, since you happen to be browsing the less reputable parts of the web, browsing would be safer from a non-windows OS.
---
### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/7 "2008-01-04T10:39:07Z")
There’s some info [here](http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-ctrlaltdelete-for-vista-logon-screen/) which will allow you to set Vista to require Ctrl-Alt-Del for login, and also clear the name of the last logged in user from the username field.
The effect of this is that one needs to known the precise username, rather than choose from a list.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/8 "2008-01-04T10:58:20Z")
[QUOTE=Manduck]
Also get Truecrypt (it’s free) so even if she finds the flash drives, she won’t know what’s on them.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Nanoda]
Or you could just use it on your HD and forego the expense of extra hardware.
[/QUOTE]
I think I understand **pilzner** ’s position here. Those suggestions are great for seeing to it that the gf can’t see the porn in question. However, if I’m the gf, I don’t need to see the contents of a protected directory on my boyfriend’s laptop to hazard a pretty shrewd guess about what’s inside. Unless **pilzner** seems like the type to be passing nuclear secrets to the North Koreans, it’s probably porn.
In short, he doesn’t need a unopenable box, he needs an invisible box.
What I have done in this situation-- er, I mean, what a friend of mine told me HE did-- is create a directory in some folder other than the standard “Documents” folder, and then some more dummy folders under that.
I use a Mac, so I can’t suggest anything for Windows off the top of my head, but the path to my porn might look something like this:
/Applications/Office98/Excel/Application\_Data/WinNT32/hotasiansluts.jpg
On a Mac, I can actually put these fake folders in my real system folder, where nobody ever looks. I don’t remember if Windows lets you do that, but you could make something up.
---
### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/9 "2008-01-04T11:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=thetruewheel]
…
In short, he doesn’t need a unopenable box, he needs an invisible box.
What I have done in this situation-- er, I mean, what a friend of mine told me HE did-- is create a directory in some folder other than the standard “Documents” folder, and then some more dummy folders under that.
[/QUOTE]
And if someone searches your entire system for .jpg files, they WILL find it.
There is nothing like TrueCrypt for making invisible boxes - that is what it designed for. The Truecrypt file can be called anything you like - _UselessData.mdb_, _SysVol.Dat_, _Index.bin_ - and placed wherever you like. Anyplace obscure that you can put your files, so can TrueCrypt. You can do trickier things, too, that mean that you can only open the TrueCrypt data if you know where it is (ie what sector on the partition) , and the passphrases to unlock multiple levels of encryption. You can have an encrypted partition with all your passwords on it (that you can show your girlfriend, cause you are keeping stuff safe) and then unlock the double hidden stuff you don’t want her to see. Plausible deniability.
TrueCrypt is the right tool for the job.
Si
---
### Author:  [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-porn-windows-vista/432247/10 "2008-01-04T11:41:02Z")
Fair enough. I guess it was sort of stupid of me to assume the makers of TrueCrypt would neglect the needs of porn-hiders. Probably the majority of their market, now that I think about it. 😃