Preventing ”secret” files from popping up

[Patrick Asselman]

On 2012-10-28 17:14, Colin Law wrote:
> On 28 October 2012 15:10, Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>> 2012/10/28 Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com>:
>>> On 28 October 2012 09:25, Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum at gmail.com> 
>>> wrote:
>>>> Let's say that I'm the only one who use my computer, and my file
>>>> collection is a mix of things. Some of the files are ”secret” in 
>>>> some
>>>> kind of way, could be any reason, of course. Maybe some kind of 
>>>> files
>>>> for work, maybe just too private files, whatever.
>>>>
>>>> So I hit the magic key combination (in my case Super+space, I 
>>>> think
>>>> default is Super only) to search for files. Before I enter 
>>>> anything, a
>>>> couple of my last viewed files appear. Some of them may be files 
>>>> that
>>>> I don't want someone who's looking at the screen should see.
>>>>
>>>> Can I prevent certain files from appearing there, at least as long 
>>>> as
>>>> I am not searching for them specifically? Or can I prevent files
>>>> inside a certain folder to appear?
>>>> Or do I just need to create a separate user for those files?
>>>
>>> If you go to System Settings > Privacy and go to the Files tab you 
>>> can
>>> add folders that activity is not to be recorded for.  I /think/ 
>>> that
>>> will do it.  Also all files of particular types can be disregarded
>>> there.
>>>
>>> Colin
>>
>> Thank you, exactly what I was looking for. Still some of the files 
>> end
>> up there, but maybe it's because they have already been ”logged”, so
>> maybe I need to restart the system or something.
>>
>> One thing I am wondering is: Let's say that I add the folder
>> /home/MyUserName/MyFolder/Private, what about its sub folders then?
>> For example the file
>> 
>> /home/MyUserName/MyFolder/Private/MySecretFolder/MyEvenMoreSecretDocument,
>> will it be ”protected” in this case?
>
> Don't know, I assume so.  To remove existing ones you may need to
> clear your history as they are already logged.  that is in the 
> Privacy
> settings also I think.
>
> Colin
>

Of course from a security point of view, excluding certain files or 
folders in a config file is just as bad as (if not worse than) having 
them pop op in the last-used box.

Ideally you would not want anything to pop up in the last-used box.

Or alternatively you would set a very large selection in the config 
file, like the entire /home, but that would imply your search function 
is very crippled.

Just my €0,01

Patrick