If I disable MSN messenger's history is it guaranteed that the conversation are not stored somewhere else? Guaranteed? Certainly not. Unlikely, perhaps, but there are definitely ways that the conversation could still be around, though likely only for a short time. We'll start with the obvious: the person you were conversing with could have a complete history of the conversation on their side. There's no way to know if the person you are IMing with is recording the entire conversation. They certainly could be, and you can't do anything about it. Spyware, keystroke loggers or parental monitoring software can most definitely keep track of you IM conversations. Some may keep the log hidden somewhere on your machine, others may in fact send the conversation to some other computer. Aside from running regular, and updated, anti-spyware software, there's once again little to be done here. "Spyware, keystroke loggers or parental monitoring
software can most definitely keep track of you IM conversations."
And finally, like any program run under Windows, IM programs use memory, and that memory can be swapped out to disk and end up in the paging or swap file. There's a small chance that your conversation, or parts of it, could reside there for short amounts of time. Windows goes through great lengths to keep the paging file secure, however, quoting a Microsoft web site: "The file system security for paging files prevents any user from gaining access to and reading these files, and these security settings cannot be changed. However, someone other than the authorized user might start the computer under a different operating system to read a paging file." What this means is that with a lot of work, and a lot of luck, someone who has physical access to your machine might be able to extract some data from the paging file. But it's pretty darned difficult and unlikely. I'd be much more concerned about the person I'm chatting with, and spyware, myself. Related:
Article 9768 | Posted February 4, 2006 |
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I just read the article stating that there is little possibility that an IM message would be saved to a computer, however, I just read an article on the web from the Washington Post stating the opposite. It talked about companies firing employees because of IM messages that were retrieved. Is this common?
Posted by: Kel at February 15, 2006 7:37 AMCommon? I don't know. But corporations can, and often do, monitor internet traffic. That traffic can be recorded (though not on your computer, on the company's internet proxies and firewalls). So that would be one other place where IM conversations could be found, if your company is doing so.
But as I said, that's NOT the same as finding the conversation somewhere on your computer.
Posted by: Leo at February 15, 2006 8:47 AMWell I had chat with my collegue/acquaintance about 6 months back. Obviously, I could not save history of the chat. However, now I feel that chat was very important and I want the chat as an evidence in the court.
Is it possible for Microsoft MSN server to store any kind of details about the chat we had. If yes what kind of details can be obtained/retrieved from MSN server, obviously with proper authorization from the courts. I am ready to pay requisite fee for getting this chat detail.
Please let me know urgently. Thanks.
Posted by: tardy at January 8, 2007 6:05 AMin MSN, Message History Check box are disabled(Greyed OUt), but if I create a new account in Vista. and then login into messanger, then i see these check enabled. I have tried reinstalling it.....it doesnt work. Please help.
Posted by: Ritesh Sharma at October 3, 2008 3:48 AM