Hacking help!

I've been contacted a few times recently to provide help getting to some part of a computer file or recovering some sort of data. I don't mind responding to people who reach out and generally need help, in fact, I'd like to think I've actually helped quite a few people. Here are some guidelines to make sure I can help you as much as I can.

What to do before reaching out to me for help

1. It would be really awesome if you would read the relevant blog posts and attempt it on your own first.
2. Know what you are asking for and likely to get. Data recovery and carving can generate lots of data but it generally is a shotgun approach.
3. Do the work once you have the data. I can't generate lovely time-indexed, cross-referenced, collated reports of the data. I'll just generally give you the data and expect that you'll donate some elbow-grease to the equation.

What I need to help you

1. A description of the system (Mac, PC), the operating system (XP, 7), the relevant programs (Skype, Firefox). Version of the programs is a nice-to-have for me.
2. The relevant files!
3. Any information that would help searching data. Names of the parties, dates of events, locations, etc...

What I can promise

1. My best effort to recover data
2. Getting to the task of investigating as soon as possible (I do have a life!)
3. Utmost secrecy... I will only share your information with you, no one else. Nobody but me will ever see it. I promise to delete all copies of data and emails once I've finished investigating and sent results. 
4. Discretion. I've been through this myself and I know how personally devastating going through this kind of event can be through my own experience.

How to contact me

1. Post a comment to the blog and I will reach out to you. I moderate all comments and will not make any comments public that contain personal info like an email address.
2. Email me at dead.nt.sleeping [at] gmail [dot] com
3. I have put together a web form for a contact page you will be able to see on the top tabs of the blog. Here's a link to it anyway: Contact Form.

V/r - DNS