https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1181035?p=settings_encryption&rd=1

I've also asked the current owner of my former computer to remove me as a user, but I think removing synced data should give me a fresh start. And, now that I know what the default settings are I'll be much more careful.

computer. Who can know what information is stored where and when or if it might appear at a later date?
I'm assuming your computers are connected to a server? It could be the server is seeing this computer and still thinks it is your computer. Whatever, you need better IT. This should not be happening, Chrome or otherwise.

by deleting personal files.

I've known we need better IT for a long time, but the former bosses were computer illiterate - so since the IT "guru" could do simple things, like search for software tools to open Word files which the owners had locked to prevent editing, they think she is a goddess. Those of us who know anything knew she was barely above their own literacy - that knowledge is the reason I discovered Chrome's "helpfulness" which - as far as I'm concerned - is downright dangerous because it is not disclosed in a way which makes it obvious. We had a get together of refugees from the company and a couple who were still there, and my friend who now has my computer commented on her incompetence because my account and password were still auto-populating, despite the fact that she thinks she reformatted the computer. When he mentioned an account I'd never used there, I went searching to try to figure out how that could have happened.

So I'm less concerned about the IT person there (since I'm no longer there) than I am about where else this might pop up for me and others. Chrome using a default of syncing everything (including passwords), in a manner which is computer dependent - not account dependent - is pretty scary considering how many computers change hands (deliberately or through theft).

I'm relatively computer saavy, and I was completely unaware this was happening. Now that I know it is happening, I now know how to prevent it. But it did not occur to me that once I signed into Chrome that it was syncing (and would continue to syncing forever) all saved passwords to all computers on which I had ever used signed into Chrome.

Just to be clear:

• My friend never signed into my Chrome account on that computer (although it still existed when he inherited my computer), and after he discovered it was auto-populating online accounts he deleted the Chrome account in an attempt to get rid of of the e-mail account and password that would not die. He also deleted the most recently stored passwords to these online accounts. (According to Chrome that should fix the problem, but it continued to re-populate the fields).
  
• I never used the online account which was auto-populating on that computer (It has existed, dormant, at the University I now work at), and the password did not exist until two days after I last touched the computer at my former work place, where it continued to auto-populate the account and password fields.
  
• The only connection between the two was that I once signed onto Chrome on that computer. Fortunately, I rarely used Chrome until my new workplace - where it is the preferred browser. So I'm pretty sure this is the only rogue computer out there.
  

The option is somewhat hidden.

You need to head into your google account. Then it's Data Tools -> Chrome Sync -> Manage Chrome Sync -> Stop and Clear

Gotta echo what RC said, your IT is not doing their job.


Edit: Just checked and you can access the Chrome Sync dashboard from chrome by going to Settings and under Sign In it's the first link "Manage your synced data on Google Dashboard"

I discovered that option yesterday morning, just after I posted the first note (my second note links to those directions). I'll be testing it to make sure it did the trick, since Chrome also says that deleting the Chrome account on an individual device should disconnect the computer until it is signed in again. My friend did that long ago, and it did not disconnect the device.

IT is an idiot when it comes to computers. To be fair to her, my former bosses know nothing about computers - so when she could do very basic things, they made her the IT guru. When I was there, I did all my own IT work (to the extent I was permitted), since it was much more likely to be done correctly. There were four of us who were far more competent; two of us have now left. It was laughing at her being an idiot with one of the remaining ones which led to this discovery.

My bigger concern is making people aware that Chrome's syncing is computer dependent (rather than account dependent), and defaults to syncing everything (and making sure I've really disconnected any device which had been syncing without my knowledge). At least now there is a little box when you sign in to set your sync preferences. Even though that warning/option is extremely inadequate for the size of the potential breach, even that minimal notice was not there when I last signed into Chrome on that computer. And it has taken a lot of searching and puzzling various Chrome documents together for me to be sure that it was computer driven, rather than account driven, once it was initiated.

I'm just glad that Chrome was not my default browser. On computers I have complete control over, I do have quite a few saved passwords in a different browser. If that collection of saved passwords was auto-populating on any device I'd ever used but chosen not to save passwords because it is not completely under my control, I would be very concerned. Fortunately, Chrome was only syncing 2 - but the one of them has the keys to the kingdom of some sensitive data that I would never intentionally have stored on any computer that was not completely under my control, with machine password protection and an encrypted hard drive.