PROBLEM: Dell Engineer

[darren]

Okay, so the Dell engineer will be coming this Friday morning, but unlucky for me, i shall be working that day. However, my mother is home on Friday (her day off) and she's arranged for the Dell engineer to come round and fix my laptop (not really going to go into that).

This is the problem:

My user account on my laptop is password protected, because i have some porn on there (gay porn! ) and i don't want my brothers or parents to go on it and find it, because i'm not actually out to my family (yet!).

So the Dell engineer has spoken to my mum, and told her to leave my password for my laptop for my mum, so they can get into it.

So i'm wondering, will the Dell engineer go through all my files (incl. pictures & videos) to check if it's all there? Has it happened to anyone here before?

(I can't get into my laptop to remove the files because my laptop won't actually turn on, that's why the engineer is coming round to my house)

 

[W10 Chubb]

erm - you should be very careful. Any image he sees that could be considered illegal he could report!

Buy a stand alone hard drive or transfer to disks - I wouldn't risk it !

 

[W10 Chubb]

Sorry just noted that you can't transfer - as this is the case - I would be present while he's doing it.

 

[trawler69]

^ Unless by "not turn on" he means won't boot into windows in which case it could be a software problem. I would try booting with a linux distro. If that boots ok then it is a software issue and you could use the distro to move the porn elsewhere.

 

[darren]

Ooh, there's nothing illegal on there, i don't think. It's new, and i just copied a few videos from the old PC to my new laptop, but i have a lot of college work on there too, which i can't afford to lose!

Aah, i hope he doesn't go through my videos! It will be embarrasing, but i'm probably not the only one right?

 

[darren]

Remove the hard drive - do it now. He has no need to access the hard drive if the laptop is not turning on. He should have a spare one with him anyway. I would just say that your friends told you that engineers usually do a system restore and wipe hard drives clean and you have too much stuff to lose. He can repair and test the laptop without your hard drive (well I can so he should be able to).

I know, double post, eeek!

The thing is, this is the first laptop i've had, and i'm not relaly too sure how i would go about removing the hard drive. And i'm not too sure if i want to, don't really want to break it?

But wouldn't it be strange that my hard drive would be missing when he fixes my laptop? Actually, it would be kind of funny. hehe.

 

[ephram314]

It would be pretty unprofessional of them to look at any pictures or videos you have. Usually these people want to get in, fix it, and get out as fast as possible. As long as they're not on the desktop or anything, I doubt you'll have any problems.

 

[thermodynamics]

Would it be possible to move the "sensitive data" to a DVD or flash drive? How much data are we talking about?

 

[darren]

I'm sorry, i was panicking and wasn't reading the posts properly. Thanks for the reply Trawler, but when i said won't turn on, i meant the laptop won't power up, it makes this funny churning sound and then jsut switches off completely. There's no image on the screen either. I was googling it and it might be a disconnection or something, i'm not actually too sure.

no, they're not on the desktop, so hopefully they won't actually go through my documents, but they said they wanted to check if my stuff was all there, because i told them over the phone that i had a lot of important stuff on there.

And my laptop is the Dell Studio 15.

I thought it was great until it just died. It was barely 3 weeks old. Poor thing.

Never had trouble with Dell at all before, apart from this one time...

 

[trawler69]

With great respect to Noelie don't ever try to remove a hard drive from a mac book it is a total nightmare. Essential tool is a tin opener! I know you have a Dell and it is easy, as it should be. I was really surprised at the macbook I had to take the drive out of, I actually had to Google how to do it without removing too many screws. Still ended up with a couple of sheets of A4 with screws taped to them with notes so I could remember where they came from.

As this is an edit I can say it now sounds like a hardware problem and so there really shouldn't be any reason for the engineer to do much with your hard drive. As an engineer myself I can say we have far better things to do than to pry into other peoples private lives. In fact I take a pride in not doing so despite how easy it would be for me to do so. When I am placed in a position of trust I feel it my duty to honour that trust. I hope Computer engineers feel the same way.

 

[darren]

Where are your pictures located? Right on the desktop? or in some obscure folder?

If they're in an obscure folder then I'd say don't worry. But if you have them laying around your visible desktop then you may be inclined to be worried.

Most repair guys will not go looking around the personal folders of the client's.

Well, my pictures are in the 'My Pictures' folder, and my videos are in the 'My Videos' folder. So, do you think they will? Argh, i can't believe it's going to happen when i'm not even going to be there!?

 

[Kins123]

I think there might be a tad bit of over reaction here. The engineer has got far better things to do than look through your private files. He'd never get anything done if he looked through all customers private files. I doubt he has any interest in what you have in your pictures and videos folder. Even if he does see it... you're never going to see him again so not that much of an issue.

About your family. Yeah, give your Mum the password. Once the laptop is up and running again... change it. Easy as that.

You could always leave a note to get him to call you on your mobile for the password. I doubt he would even need to log in. If it gets to the log in screen it usually means the computer is working again.

 

[darren]

Aah, thanks for the replies guys!

I'm just going to hope for the best, and if my mum sees whats on the laptop, then i guess, being optimistic and everything, it would be an easier way of coming out? hehe.

I'm such a drama queen!

 

[Jimboy121]

There has been reports of engineers going though private files, my advice to you is to move your porn stach to a folder and put the folder in your C drive (what ever yours is called), just click on my computer, drop the folder in there and rename is something else like "ATI demo's" the engineer won't even go there. delete your history and cookies in your web browser, make sure your porn is all hiden and your be fine. If he finds anything, acuse him of going though your private files and invading your privacy.

 

[seven_sins]

..Thanks for the reply Trawler, but when i said won't turn on, i meant the laptop won't power up, it makes this funny churning sound and then jsut switches off completely. There's no image on the screen either...

Sounds like a bad hard disk to me.

 

[Puzuzzu]

Not really a big deal imo, but, yeah, what happened?

 

[evanrick]

how can your laptop be so badly damaged that it needs someone to come there to fix it?

i would never have someone work on my computer unless it really needed it.

 

[darren]

sorry for the lack of update everyone, so here it is!

Okay, well, he came on Friday, but he only changed the speakers. Still hasn't fixed my bloody laptop yet, as he had to order some special parts for the inside of the laptop (i'm not laptop literate) and so he told me he'll have to come another day, which is tomorrow. (monday)

and surprise, i'm working yet again, so i'm not going to be able to see him. but he's told me over the phone (i left him my mobile number to contact me if he really needed to) that there's something up with my RAM, and that everything on my hard-drive should be okay and should still be there. So i have to get my cousin down tomorrow to wait for him.

I am not having the best of days lately!

And i'm not leaving him my password again, he didn't see it on Friday, but since he's told me that everything on my hard-drive should be okay, then he has no need to check it.

so there we go everyone! and thanks for all the helpful replies!

 

[darren]

how can your laptop be so badly damaged that it needs someone to come there to fix it?

i would never have someone work on my computer unless it really needed it.

I know, double post, sorry!!

I did offer to send it back to Dell to get it fixed, instead of me opening up the laptop itself and causing more damage than good, so they told me they'd get an engineer to come round to my house and fix it. We've had a man from Dell before to set up our computer, as my did didn't trust me to do it!

And as it's the first laptop i've ever had, and i'm not relaly that used to them, i thought it'd be best to get an expert to sort out the problem. And also, it's not costing me a thing, because it's part of the warranty!