19th February 2002
I can't tell you how many times I've caught Sprocket at my keyboard. He likes hanging out in those "Under 112" chat rooms (which translates as "Under 16" in human years). He also enjoys editing my documents. I don't appreciate this. I have a grocery list that I keep in the "My Documents" folder. For some strange reason, "Puppy Treats" keeps finding its way into the document. "Did you do this?" I ask him, knowing full well that he won't answer. "Nevermind." I simply right-click on the file, select Properties, and right there on the General tab, I discover when it was last Accessed and / or Modified. "You were the only one home at two o'clock this afternoon, buddy." Then he gives me those puppy dog eyes and I can't help but forget about the whole situation. He gets his treats, but that's beside the point. The point is: you can quickly ascertain (and logically deduce) when someone has been playing with your sensitive data. A quick way of discovering which files have been modified in the last X days is to open up the Find applet and limiting the search by Date. If you don't trust your computer-illiterate roomie, this could be a godsend.