Saying no to Encrypted Web Pages in Internet Explorer

If you manage your finances or shop online, then you have probably had experience with using secure Web connections, otherwise known as SSL. These secure connections encrypt the data that is transferred from a Web server to your computer. Once the data gets to your computer, your browser has a special key that decrypts the information and displays it on your computer. During this process, when the file is decrypted, it is saved in the Temporary Internet Files
directory so that the browser can display it.

This default appears to be harmless because the Web page is only saved on your computer. If no one has remote access to your computer, the data would be safe, right? Not necessarily, because your data is now vulnerable to anyone who has physical local access to your computer. If that person is clever and lucky enough, he or she can sort through your Temporary Internet Files directory to find confidential information, such as your online banking information. All of this information is saved by default on your hard drive for anyone to look at. They do not even need to know your password or even log into your account on the bank's Web site, because a snapshot of the Web page is stored locally on your computer.

What can you do to protect your computer from this vulnerability besides setting up better computer security such as complex passwords? There is a cool feature of Internet Explorer that you just have to turn on that will eliminate the problem completely. Simply called Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk, this feature, when enabled, will solve your problems. To enable it, follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click Tools and select Internet Options.

3. Then, select the Advanced tab.

4. Scroll down through the list toward the bottom of the window until you see the Security section.

5. Locate Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk, and check the box to the left of it.

6. Click OK to save and activate your changes.

Now you will no longer have to worry about pages that were encrypted being saved to your drive for anyone who has access to your computer to see.