An informative article I found at ars technical:
How Best Buy’s computer-wiping error turned me into an amateur blackhat
I always get a little thrill opening a new gadget. The computer looked like it had never been touched and all the paperwork was still in sealed bags. There was even a slip of paper in the box with the ID of the tech who cleaned and certified the unit.
So it surprised me when I booted up and saw someone else’s name and Hotmail address at the login prompt. So much for like-new!
As I stared at the full name and e-mail address of the previous owner—let’s call him David—I wondered. Could I get into this computer another way? It was mine after all. And how much more could I learn about him? How bad of a mistake had the store made?Reset Windows 10
Good to know, tnx !
Your welcome. Note on Eight blog, ARC1020 made a very good point, the this specially goes for phones.:Good to know, tnx !This is going to be an even bigger problem with Smart Phones, with their high turn-around rates and the fact people are rather blasé about mobile phone security for some bizarre reason. And Windows phones being one of the worse, as they don't allow consumers to turn on Bitlocker even if they want to.
An interesting article.An informative article I found at ars technical:Reset Windows 10
One other thought I had though - in the article the suggestion is that the original buyer took the machine back to the store, presumably to get it repaired, and handed over their password.
Although I now know a couple of things about Windows from reading Eight blog and windowssh blog, I know little about hardware, and in any case if something failed while under warranty I'd probably take it back to the store before having a go myself.
So if you took a computer back in to the store under warranty, and the store said they needed the computer's password to fix it, and the only login/password on the computer is for your Microsoft Account (which gives access to lots of information on the cloud), what would youdo...?
For me, it just reinforces something I do which I've mentioned before, which is to setup a local account with Admin rights, while the computer is working.
I think the lesson is more than just resetting the computer (which in any case might not be possible if the computer had already failed in some way - suppose a power supply connector had failed for instance).
They have absolutely no need to get into your account to repair a PC. To help with setting up you should remain there after logging yourself. Leaving you PC with ANYONE is like leaving money in your hotel room, sometimes you get lucky, and they're honest. Your personal information is $$$$ these days
This article makes me glad that I have learned how to repair my computers.
Same here.. plus I have a great local shop if I need to go that route.This article makes me glad that I have learned how to repair my computers.
It feels a lot better if you build your own PC. You don't have to bring your PC anywhere else.This article makes me glad that I have learned how to repair my computers.
I actually enjoy building, or updating the hardware in my own PCs. Hardware I understand, but software...ah....not so much!It feels a lot better if you build your own PC. You don't have to bring your PC anywhere else.
I haven't built my own computer since they stopped having computer shows locally. I still get the emails but I'm not going to drive to to Maryland to go to one. It was nice when they use to have the shows at the University of Delaware. I just checked my email and there's a computer show this weekend in Laurel MD.
