OK, I was bored out of my skull, and got to wondering if I could recall the names, first and last, of every woman I’ve ever boinked (OK, all together: “Why don’t you just ask her, PRR?” and now we’ll do “One is called ‘Right Hand’ and the other is called ‘Left Hand.’” OK, all done? Let us proceed) and I’ve got this list compiled on my hard drive, but I don’t want to label it “List of women I’ve boinked” for the same reason I try to wear clean underwear when I step outside–if I were to have an accident, someone might pry where they’re not meant to go, and it would be embarrassing. So I’m looking for some label to slap on the file such that no one would be tempted to open it.
I would get it tattooed on my dick if I were you. That way, when you are old and senile, you can have a chance of remembering what that list was about in the first place. The only problem with that is if you are worried about your future urologist asking you who in the hell ‘Cherry’ and ‘Lexus’ are.
I was going to suggest that those trying to come up with an idea for me might look on their own desktop or folders for their most boring title, but I decided to do it myself first: my most boring title was “mailing list” and it was an Excel file of names and addresses. I then got the notion to embed my list into that Excel file, starting about 300 names down the list.
I might be able to come up with an even more off-putting title, so I’ll ask: what’s your own least attractive file name if a stranger were to poke around in your computer? Go ahead, look on your desktop or folders, and LMK.
To answer seriously: if it’s actually something you don’t want someone else to stumble across, just using a boring filename is a pretty unreliable solution. Use TrueCrypt and encrypt the file (or an entire disk or partition), or zip/rar it using a password, or just use a login password on your computer. I assume we’re talking about a friend or family member and not Homeland Security?
My suggestion as well. I have a couple of sensitive documents hidden this way. A folder with a generic sounding title contains 5 folders with seemingly random 10-digit numbers. Each of these folders contains 5 folders with 10-digit numbers, each of which in turn contains 5 folders.
One folder out of the 125 has my files in it, and only I know the correct path. (Yes, I had a little time on my hands when I set that up.)