Auntie Jill's Jillings

Dear Auntie Jill,
I often have to share a lap top with someone else. My problem is how to make absolutely sure I can cover my internet tracks so that nobody knows what sites I’ve been visiting on the web.
Thank you,
Sue B.

Dear Sue B
If you are using Explorer 8 or higher there is a feature called InPrivate Browsing .It is claimed that this enables you to surf the web without leaving a trail. Allegedly this helps prevent anyone else who might be using your computer from seeing what sites you visited and what you looked at on the web. You can start InPrivate Browsing from the New Tab page or the Safety button.

While you are surfing the web using InPrivate Browsing, Internet Explorer stores some information—such as cookies and temporary Internet files—so the webpages you visit will work correctly. However, at the end of your InPrivate Browsing session, this information is supposedly discarded. Some other browsers have similar features.

In my experience if you are a Microsoft user your jilling preferences are written down all over the place and even passed onto merchandisers.

I suspect MS Internet Explorer deletes as opposed to erases your tracks. Deleted files can be undeleted again. Deleting a file simply removes the file’s directory entry, but the data itself remains on the disk. I tend to put my faith in Clean Disk Security http://www.diskcleaners.com/clndisk.html. which is free and removes all incriminating evidence i.e. it writes over files with digital garbage. The program removes the tracks of internet browsing, cleans the Window's swap file, cleans unneeded temporary files from your hard disk etc. A salutary exercise is to first actuate MS Windows ‘Delete Browsing History’ function and then follow it with a sweep by Clean Disk Security.

Hope you find this helpful
Happy Jilling

Auntie Jill.

Dear Auntie Jill
I have an acquaintance who suffers from a paranoid view that everyone is trying to upset her, that nobody appreciates her and that her intellect is under-valued. She wants to be everyone's friend but has an uncanny knack of pissing them off really quickly. She tends to write me rambling emails, professing warmth and care but then I discover she has written to someone else telling them I am a heartless bitch who doesn't love her anymore.

I don't care about this but I wondered if there was a way of telling her to bugger off in a way that will work.

Can you help?
Bemused

Dear Bemused,

Even after 3 or 4 G&Ts your letter still looks like a really tough one to answer. Simply because it covers so much of the darker side of on-line chat. You could write a thesis on this subject and still fall short. The truth is there is no simple answer.

So just before you say good old Auntie Jill is going to flip her skirt up at this one, I’m not. I’m going to give it my best shot. Certainly I’ve met a whole bunch of people on-line similar to your acquaintance.

You have to remember that people come on-line for a wide variety of reasons. You have the good the bad and the ugly, the sinners and the saints. Certainly many people come on-line because they have difficulty in relating in real life. In that sense chat fulfils a very useful social function. And it must be said that it has in some cases helped people to socialise back into the society. When it comes to psychology I must admit I’m a lay person (don’t get too carried away with the word ‘lay’). However I did once attend a talk given by our Vicar down at the WI on the psychology of inadequacy. How people feel inadequate is perhaps best left to those more knowledgeable. But the one thing I learnt was how threatened inadequate people can feel. This is very difficult for most folk to grasp. However, for the inadequate person it can take on the scale of a titanic life and death struggle. One symptom of this struggle is the idea that everyone is plotting behind their backs and the tragedy is this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

On another level people being two-faced on the internet is extremely common. People often leave their values and scruples by the door when they step into cyberspace. The truth goes on hold. And here cyberspace helps answer the old philosophic question, do people tell the truth because of ethical considerations, or because they are worried about being found out. Quite clearly the internet has shown that the latter holds sway in most cases. People lie here far more frequently and tend to be far more two-faced because erroneously they often think that they can get away with it.

As for being a ‘heartless bitch’ we all end up with that accolade when we don’t pander to the whims of people like your acquaintance. Anyone who doesn’t pander to their inadequacy, totally and without reservation is ipso facto against them.

Sadly a lot of people feel their intellect is being undervalued - usually in an academic sense. That really is sad because they still have a considerable and diverse experience of life which is just as valuable as being able to quote Homer. The trick here is to try and to create opportunities where people can bring their own experiences to play.

As for telling people to bugger off. I find two words relating to sex and travel works wonders. However the kindest and most practical thing is to just drift away and ignore them. That after all is one of the great strengths of the internet.

I sense that I’ve not really given your question an adequate response and for that I apologise, however I now have to put the cat out, put my teeth in a glass and as we say down at Jillington-on-Sea get on with my jillings.

Love

Auntie Jill.

If you have written in recently and are expecting a reply please be patient we will get around to your letter as soon as we can.

Meanwhile Auntie Jill can be contacted at girlscoffeeshop@yahoo.com.