Are you ready to password-protect & encrypt your sensitive computer files?

2014-05-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

As of Tuesday, May 13, 2014 the current versions of this software program worked with the following operating systems:

Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000, Mac OS X, and Linux

NOTE: What I have to share here with you is solely based on my experience using this program with a computer running the Windows XP Home Edition operating system.

What you will be doing is creating one or more areas somewhere on one or more storage devices (internal or external hard drive, CD/DVD rewritable disc, flash drive, etc.) and establishing one or more passwords for these areas. Once the program prepares these areas to protect your files, you can begin moving any kind of file into these protected areas. It is imperative you understand that once you store computer files in these protected areas, the only way to access them is by entering the established password. In other words, there is no facility to recover your password.

From the program's FAQs:

"I forgot my password – is there any way to recover the files from my ... volume?

...[this software program] does not contain any mechanism or facility that would allow partial or complete recovery of your ... data without knowing the correct password ... The only way to recover your files is to try to "crack" the password ..., but it could take thousands or millions of years depending on the length and quality of the password/..., on software/hardware efficiency, and other factors."

A thorough user's guide in '.pdf' format is included when you download the software program. I encourage you to pay careful attention to any mention of something you need to know about before going to the next step in the beginner's guide.

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To help you better decide if this software program will do for you what you desire it to, let me tell you a bit about my use of it. This software program provides basically two ways to protect your files - a file container or a device partition. I use both. One main difference between these two methods is how your protected area appears in a contents listing of a device. A file container will appear as any other file does. You decide the name to use for this container. If you opened this 'file' in a text editor, it would appear as indecipherable random characters. To compare, the partition method shows in a contents listing of a device as a drive letter. If you click on it, you get a message box saying the drive isn't formatted and you are asked if you want to format. So all I did was create a file container, gave it a name, input the size of the container, established a password & the program prepared the area for use. I then clicked to mount the protected area, chose which letter designation I desired (this is used for the file container, since the protected area you create is treated as a virtual drive), entered the password & moved files into it. When I finished, I clicked to dismount the area, protecting it from being viewed by anyone not having the correct password. The procedure is basically the same for creating a protected partition area, except for giving it a name. Whenever I want access to these private files, I run this file protection program and for a file container type choose the file name, the letter designation and enter the password which mounts this virtual drive making all files stored within it as usable as regular files stored on an unprotected area of the hard drive or other storage device.

As an example of how well this software program will protect your privacy, imagine something happens which leaves your computer in someone else's hands (you die [I prefer to say 'graduate from Earth life'], your computer is stolen, etc.). This someone sees a partition on your hard drive designated by a particular letter. They click on it to see what's stored there, but instead get the format message. They take your computer to a computer shop to hire someone to find out what's stored on that area of the hard drive. This tech person uses a hexidecimal editor or something like Norton's Disk Doctor to view the area's contents. All they'd see would be indecipherable random characters. If they knew about the security type of software programs that may have been used to create that partition, they may try to 'crack' the password. But if you followed the program's instructions regarding password strength recommendations, as was said in the FAQs, "...it could take thousands or millions of years depending on the length and quality of the password..." They'd probably give up, reformat the partition to use it for storing their own files & anything you'd stored there would be gone forever. Another nice feature is the auto-dismount that occurs for all mounted volumes should your power go out or your computer crashes.

If you're still not sure if this software program is what you're looking for, I encourage you to go here

http://www.truecrypt.org/faq

and read through the FAQs. You can also access the program's documentation here, should you desire to:

http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

When you're ready to download this wonderful, free program you can do so here (versions for all supported OSs on this page)

http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads

This program works great, even for a casual user like myself. So unless you're an adviser for national security of a country, you probably won't need to be concerned with the finer details of this wonderful, no-cost computer file protection program. If you are in such a high level position, this program can most likely fulfill all your computer file security needs.

Safely keep 20+ character passwords for copying/pasting

2011-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

I believe I've come up with a safe way to store the 20+ character passwords recommended by file encryption programs, "in plain sight." You've probably seen those really long URLs with lots of seemingly random characters, usually for some type of advertising. If you haven't, go to a site like Yahoo or MSN & move your cursor over a few of the ads & you'll probably find at least one of them that shows you what I'm talking about. The basic idea is to copy an '.html' file with one or more of these really long URLs & store it in an unencrypted place on your main hard drive. If you use a Windows-based computer, a good place to store this file might be in the Windows directory. Name it something inconspicuous, like 'W32synk.dll' (as long as there isn't already a file by that name - DO NOT replace/overwrite an existing Windows file). Then all you have to do is open this file in a text editor (I use EditPad Lite) & locate one of the long URLs. If the URL you decide to use has only numbers & letters, then you should ad some other characters (%, *, ~, etc.) to increase the strength of your password. Now just determine a starting character at least 20 characters from one end or the other of the long URL & count left or right 20 or more characters. That will be a password for one of your encrypted devices or containers. You could use really any large file that has random characters to do this. An example would be a '.jpg' photo file - open one in a text editor & just determine a starting charcater for you password & how many characters you want the password to be. Just be sure to copy the file you use to an inconspicuous unencrypted folder on your computer with a name different from the original file. Decide on how many encrypted devices and or containers you want, go through the above procedure for each one, then run the file encryption program & use the file(s) to copy/paste your password(s) when the encryption program prompts you.

Protect yourself and your loved ones with on-the-fly file encryption

Are you ready to password-protect & encrypt your sensitive computer files?

Safely keep 20+ character passwords for copying/pasting