Paper Shredders

[diehardbiker]

Your right about shredder being fastest, it is pretty secured BUT not as secured as blender. Once it goes though blender with water, then it is 99.99999999999999999% impoissible to retrieve any information, compared to shredder which is about 95%. Depending how you get rid of it.

The blender method is too slow for me. We shred too many personal and business papers. It is much quicker to feed the shredder.

Our tax man said that we don't need to keep all the original receipts, etc., for more than three years. We only need to keep copies of the filled out tax forms for seven years.

I also shred all my interpreter job related papers, such as assignment requests, to maintain privacy for my clients.

 

[Reba]

Depending how you get rid of it.

I used to mix my shreds with our kitty's used litter in the same bag before I put it in the trash can.

I figure if someone wanted it that badly, they deserved it.

 

[diehardbiker]

Oh hahaha, as creative as crooks usually gets! That is good one. There are many ways to do it. No single way is best for everybody. What is most important thing is that you don't get your information into wrong hands.

I used to mix my shreds with our kitty's used litter in the same bag before I put it in the trash can.

I figure if someone wanted it that badly, they deserved it.

 

[sequoias]

I experimented putting a few pages of documents added with water in a blender at high speed, it works very well. it looks like bluish paper pulp after it was all destroyed, it looks very impossible to put it back together, it's all pulp, I dumped it in my garbage disposal and it sucked it all away, hehe. It is slower, but very effective compared to stredders.

 

[diehardbiker]

Exactly! turned them to pulp. Actually FBI, and CSI have the equipment to get them together again! But you wouldn't care about it anyway (Unless you killed somebody and had paper evidence turned into pulp in blender), and that crooks can't afford their high priced equipment anyway.
This idea really is based on security effectiveness. Only cons is that it is time consuming, but again SURE-FIRE!

I experimented putting a few pages of documents added with water in a blender at high speed, it works very well. it looks like bluish paper pulp after it was all destroyed, it looks very impossible to put it back together, it's all pulp, I dumped it in my garbage disposal and it sucked it all away, hehe. It is slower, but very effective compared to stredders.

 

[sara1981]

i vote straight paper of shredder

i do shredder by straight paper more easy than ripper! i do shredder at my mom's old office she have shredder trash its very old! i told her why not need get new one as shredder!

Sara Boyce

 

[diehardbiker]

Cross cutting shredder is even better. You will run it just exact same way as straight shredder. But the machine itself cuts cross every 1 to 2 inch long. That way, it is MUCH harder to put them back together (Still can do if have patience). Straight shredder is fairly easy to tape back together if crooks really want to get your info. The choice is yours, but my recommendation is still, the more you shred into smaller pieces the better security.

i vote straight paper of shredder

i do shredder by straight paper more easy than ripper! i do shredder at my mom's old office she have shredder trash its very old! i told her why not need get new one as shredder!

Sara Boyce

 

[Mizzou]

Habit of ripping the junk mails by hands.

I uses the shredder at work and have little one at home, too.

 

[VamPyroX]

Cross cutting shredder is even better. You will run it just exact same way as straight shredder. But the machine itself cuts cross every 1 to 2 inch long. That way, it is MUCH harder to put them back together (Still can do if have patience). Straight shredder is fairly easy to tape back together if crooks really want to get your info. The choice is yours, but my recommendation is still, the more you shred into smaller pieces the better security.

For me, it's not a matter of it being more secure... but taking up less space. Shredding 100 pages with strip-cut fills up a whole bag. Shredding 100 pages with cross-cut takes up a little bit more than an ordinary stack of 100 pages.

 

[diehardbiker]

Would it matter if you dump it in garbage can and took it out on the curb and somebody got in your garbage can and find these shredder paper and decided to bring it back home and piece together to find your identity and steal from you? No big deal? If this happens, it WILL cost you ALOT of time AND money to get your credit straighten, and have to deal with legal issues that creditors MIGHT run after you. It is NOT funny! Most of the cases victim of ID thieves didn't know til about 3 months later! That is average, unless you check your credit report frequently.

For me, it's not a matter of it being more secure... but taking up less space. Shredding 100 pages with strip-cut fills up a whole bag. Shredding 100 pages with cross-cut takes up a little bit more than an ordinary stack of 100 pages.

 

[VamPyroX]

Would it matter if you dump it in garbage can and took it out on the curb and somebody got in your garbage can and find these shredder paper and decided to bring it back home and piece together to find your identity and steal from you? No big deal? If this happens, it WILL cost you ALOT of time AND money to get your credit straighten, and have to deal with legal issues that creditors MIGHT run after you. It is NOT funny! Most of the cases victim of ID thieves didn't know til about 3 months later! That is average, unless you check your credit report frequently.

Well, my credit cards are already protected and I shread my papers wisely. I have a system of how I shread my papers and I don't emphasize to people around me about how I shred my papers all the time. I might do it today. I might do it tomorrow. I might do it next year. Those who shred their papers frequently are at higher risk of someone noticing a pattern and snooping in their trash. I had a friend who shredded his old checkbook. What he did was shread the whole thing and then throw it away in 3 different places. Do you really think that someone is going to go the extra mile to follow my friend and see where he dumped those little pieces of papers and try getting in a bank account that used to have $1 in it and no longer exists? Blah! Heh! I'm careful anyway.

 

[Reba]

Don't forget the security involved for disposing of old computer records, such as floppies, CDs, tapes, and hard drives. The only truly safe way is to physically destroy them. "Erasing" is not enough.

 

[downing]

for junkie papers. I rip with my hands. at work i put it in burn bags... ppl take it and burn it at a special facility...

 

[diehardbiker]

Ja! Even after formatting hard drive information STILL can be retrieve!!! The only way to truly erase it is to physically destroy and to "Scan" strong magnetic over the disc.

Don't forget the security involved for disposing of old computer records, such as floppies, CDs, tapes, and hard drives. The only truly safe way is to physically destroy them. "Erasing" is not enough.

 

[diehardbiker]

Sure, what generally do ID thieves do? Collect your personal financial info, and some of history. Then apply credit card without your knowledge. It takes only SSN, your employers name, and your physical address with phone number. That is pretty much they needed to open account. They would add new address or PO box or something WITHOUT your knowledge. And they would get new card in their mailbox, not yours.... And MAX the charging! This happens pretty often already.

Extra mile you go in destroying your vital information lessen the chance of landing on wrong hands. Your idea is one of my suggestion. Your right about shredded paper in garbage invites thieves. That is truly a fact for today. These checks, most thieves wouldn't bother them anymore. They are trace much easier, BUT STILL it is safe to destroy and spread it out or burn it in fire.

Most important thing is what? GUARD your Social Security Number!!! That is the only number thieves really needed to do crimes. Once they get your SSN, there is not much left for them to dig for more info. Scary? YES!

IMHO Credit bureau should have set up credit ID number instead of using SSN. Meaning to establish Credit ID number one need to go in Bank to verify the Identity and establish credit history from there WITHOUT SSN! That way, if any shits happens that credit ID number can be change, this way it would thrawt any more new criminal activities. SSN were never intended for private financial purpose, but somehow corporations found way to abuse its orignal intention and now it is IMPOSSIBLE to reverse this.

Well, my credit cards are already protected and I shread my papers wisely. I have a system of how I shread my papers and I don't emphasize to people around me about how I shred my papers all the time. I might do it today. I might do it tomorrow. I might do it next year. Those who shred their papers frequently are at higher risk of someone noticing a pattern and snooping in their trash. I had a friend who shredded his old checkbook. What he did was shread the whole thing and then throw it away in 3 different places. Do you really think that someone is going to go the extra mile to follow my friend and see where he dumped those little pieces of papers and try getting in a bank account that used to have $1 in it and no longer exists? Blah! Heh! I'm careful anyway.