[clark33]

Hi -

I have some files i would like to encrypt. All the guides from Microsoft seem to make encryption only valuable to a multi-user or networked PC. Therefore, is there any point in encrypting files on a single user PC that is only connected to the internet. I was thinking of encrypting on the off chance my PC was hacked - any ideas,
Thanks

[Mak213]

There are ways to do it. WinRar can do it and such. There are ways in XP to do it as well. But the thing is if you encrypt the files that are needed you will have trouble. If you are talking about personal documents then there really isnt harm in it. But if these people are good enough to hack you. They will have ways to bypass just about any encryption out there.

[clark33]

Thanks for replying - I've got XP Pro - so was just thinking about using the built in one. Never realised WinRar has encryption attributes aswell, that would be a good workaround if you were running Home as opposed to Pro, because only pro has the built in

[Mak213]

Well XP Pro uses 128Bit encryption. While that isnt bad it is kinda low by today's standards for encryption. It isnt that what you are trying to do is a bad idea. It would be jsut as good to get a external drive to use for these purposes.

Get the external and connect it. Keep all your personal data on there and leave it on while you need the data. Then turn off the external while you dont need access. Then no matter what happens, meaning if your PC gets hacked or infested with nasties, that information cant be accessed while you have control over the drive.

This is the method i use only cause if you forget the password or try to access this information from another computer the certificates are a pain to work with. Plus if you dont renew them in a timely manner they can expire denying you access to the files.

We had someone not long ago come thru with this exact issue. They had data they encrypted with Windows. They didnt access the data for over 6 months. The Certificates need to be updated every 3 months or less. So the encryption was still active while their certificates expired.

No more access. They were sensitive documents as well and there was no way for any of us to help them crack it.

So while i think you are onto something. I think there would be a better way to accomplish this task cause of the fact that if you dont access the data that often. You could lose it.

[clark33]

Interesting, very interesting. I take it certificates are part and partial of encryption - suppose thats how it works. I encryped one of my folders as a test and it didnt ask for a password, just changed all the files in it and made them green. There wasnt anything about certificates, so maybe this aspect is just for domains then?

[Mak213]

It could be. Could be also cause they were using a USB Thumb Drive as well for the encryption.

[clark33]

Sounds like a tricky situation that guy got himself into - i wonder if he was a director of a top company! I've done a bit a testing:-

Created another full administrator workgroup account
Logged of my original administrator account
Logged into my newly created one
Found the files that i created
Tried to access, and bingo - it said Access denied.

So, on the plus side - if my PC got stolen i dont think they can access encrypted files unless they knew my password to logon. On the other side - it seems that logging into your windows account, unencrypts them automatically. So i guess that would mean the only way they could be compromised would be through remotely accessing my PC and even at that - i wouldnt be suprised if the encryption has something built in that would prevent that aswell.