1. Launch Identity Finder by clicking Start > All Programs > Identity Finder or double-clicking its shortcut on the Desktop.
2. Enter your Identity Finder password to sign in.
3. Click Start Search Now to begin a search of your computer. By default, Identity Finder searches for Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers and passwords.
4. Your scan will run, and Identity Finder will tally the number of locations searched on your computer, locations with a match and total matches. On the main Identity Finder screen, the locations of each match will be identified, its date, file size, the information identified as Personal Identifiable Information, number of instances in the item and a preview of the content with the match highlighted.
5. Click Advanced. Scan the items that were identified. The Preview Pane to the right contains the text of the item, with the Personally Identifiable Information highlighted. Check the box next to an item, review the item, then choose from the following options:
   • Check items you do not want to retain on your computer and click Shred to destroy them. Shredded documents cannot be recovered, and are destroyed to Department of Defense deletion standards.
   • Check items and select Scrub (if available) to remove the identified term and retain the other information. The removed information cannot be recovered.
   • Check items and select Secure (if available) to secure the file using features of the application that created it, such as a password. The information is still contained in the file, but cannot be accessed without a password.
   • Check items and select Quarantine (if available) to move an item to a special quarantined location and shred the version in the original location.
   • Check items you want to remove and select Recycle to put it in your computer's recycle bin. Files in the recycle bin may be able to be restored; this is not a good way to remove documents that contain Personal Identifiable Information and doesn't actually delete them.
   • Check items that were misidentified as containing Personal Identifiable Information (false positives) and select Ignore to ignore either the match itself, the area it was located in, or to manage what files are ignored in future searches.

Sometimes information is misidentified as being Personally Identifiable Information. Check the box next to these and click Ignore for the match.

If you are on UBMail Powered by Exchange, you can use options within Identity Finder to destroy or secure Personal Identifiable Information. If you are on UBMail (Central Email) or UBMail Powered by Google, delete the messages from your email client, such as Thunderbird, Eudora or Outlook, rather than through Identity Finder.