I returned a month old windows 10 tablet to argos today after it died, just nothing, no power, charge light wouldn’t come on dead.
So they refunded and took custody of it. But now I am concerned that my saved passwords and data etc in Microsoft Edge and Chrome will be vulnerable?

Chrome might show you logged in devices. Remove the tablet from the list if you can.

Chances are nothing will come of it, but it would be wise to go on a password changing spree.

And in future, don’t save passwords in browsers etc, set them so they forget everything and remove cookies and history when you close them down.

You are probably right to be concerned depending on a) if they can fix it and b) who gets hold of it afterwards.
Was the device itself password protected?

I am concerned that my saved passwords

Change them then, you buffoon. (-:

and data

My experience of Returns departments is that they will probably sweep the drive for any good porn and then erase the device.

My experience of Returns departments is that they will probably sweep the drive for any good porn and then erase the device

I used to work in Dixons during my degree and was tasked with checking and reformatting returned computers so I can confirm this is very true.

Wasn’t the device password protected?

And in future, don’t save passwords in browsers etc, set them so they forget everything and remove cookies and history when you close them down.

Yes that’s good practice, but really… **** that.

Yes that’s good practice, but really… **** that.

If you use a password vault it’s not that onerous.

Yes it was password protected but if you remove the hard drive and access it from another machine. The problem was the device was bricked and would not even start, so I couldn’t log in to erase anything…
I am changing passwords as we speak.

Modern Win10 tablet has bitkeeper turned on so disk is encrypted and unlocked with your password.

Really, that is reassuring, where can I read source material about this?

The Internet?

I’d have thought that a tablet would have some sort of embedded solid state storage so “removing the hard-drive” would be non-trivial.

I didn’t think windows 10 Home supported bitlocker and you needed a pricier tablet that had TPM even if you used Win 10 Pro?

As for removing the hdd, I think some tablets (e.g the Lenovo Miix devices) still screw together so it’s just a card to remove these days. Nice really

it was a cheap assed linx 10 139.99 from argos.

I didn’t think windows 10 Home supported bitlocker and you needed a pricier tablet that had TPM even if you used Win 10 Pro?

It does if there is a TPM, you just don’t get to configure it manually like you can with Pro. And even the cheap tablets now seem to be getting a TPM.

I don’t know about Edge or Chrome as I use FF, but if you’ve got the correct sync options ticked, you can delete the saved passwords from another device.
I expect, if they get your old device working again, they will format the storage space (but probably not overwrite it). But more likely, it’s just been binned…

And in future, don’t save passwords in browsers etc, set them so they forget everything and remove cookies and history when you close them down.

Good luck getting near my passwords without my fingerprint.