Private Browsing Never Private

[MacBook.Matt]

Hi.

I found this article which is very interesting. http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9054

It mentions a hidden cache full of cookies from all of the websites you have visited that are Flash enabled. I tried it out and, sure enough, despite clearing my private data every 10 mins in firefox, there was a list of every macromedia flashplayer enabled website I had visited. I tried deleting a few...it seemed to do no harm. Is it ok to delete these cookies?

TRY IT: ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/FlashPlayer/#SharedObjects/5'''''

Go through finder, don't paste into spotlight.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

That article is about Safari, the "Private Browsing" feature is for Safari, but you are talking about using Firefox.

But yes, Safari isn't the most secure browser going around.

Firefox + disk encryption is.

 

[MacBook.Matt]

yes but even sites you visit on firefox are listed in this folder. are there any downsides to using filevault encryption?

 

[richard.mac]

its Adobe's Flash that stores that information not Safari or Firefox. dont blame it on Safari's private browsing feature it doesnt record any information at all.

another reason Flash for OS X is rubbish, uses too many resources and the websites where you watched flash videos are written to cache even if browsing privately.

yes but even sites you visit on firefox are listed in this folder. are there any downsides to using filevault encryption?

File Vault encrypts your home folder after you log out or shutdown and then decrypts when you login. i wouldnt bother with it just delete the Flash cache folder every so often if you dont want people looking at what video sites you have been watching (if someone actually knows about that folder anyway).

 

[QuantumLo0p]

Also, I think the user file events.data retains site information on each user and may not clear when resetting Safari.

This file?
/Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/Users/"username"/events.data

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Filevault is OK.

I've never had any corruption problems. It's inconvenient with Time Machine, as you have to log out to back up your home folder.

It also doesn't secure anything outside your home folder.

I wouldn't bother with it if all you want to do is hide a few cookies and some web history.

 

[richard.mac]

Also, I think the user file events.data retains site information on each user and may not clear when resetting Safari.

This file?
/Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/Users/"username"/events.data

yeah but thats a feature in Parental Controls to log website activity of managed accounts even when browsing privately.