Best Laptop / Hard Drive Encryption??

[OUCATS]

Due to secure information being placed on laptops, I am looking for software that can encrypt and protect data incase a laptop is stolen. From experience, which software is "the best"? I have seen some software which creates a folder (or drive letter) that any files inside the folder are encrypted. Is there any software that encrypts the entire hard drive (OS and everything)? Thanks in advance!

 

[jrbarnett]

Microsoft EFS on XP Pro does a pretty good job and is integrated into the operating system. Provided the data are kept separate from the operating system, there should be no problems. All I say is make sure you back up the keys for recovery purposes and store them somewhere safe.

Remember that if the OS is encrypted, you will need some sort of hardware key (USB or serial fob) to start the computer up.

John

 

[bigoldbulldog]

Does EFS protect the paging file? I know that passwords tend to sit around in memory and often find their way onto the hard drive in both allocated and unallocated blocks. If your data is that important then their are some applications that encrypt data but also claim to protect the holes of passwords and keys sitting in paging and similar areas.

Cheers,
ND

bigoldbulldog@hotmail.com

 

[jrbarnett]

EFS will not protect the paging file by default, but you can set up a group policy setting to clear the paging file on shutdown.

John