Does anyone here know about or use encryption software?

cheftonyganza · Jan 15, 2011, 06:39 PM

I am kinda paranoid about someone taking my laptop, and putting all my data over the internet, or taking my identity and ripping me off. A friend told me I should try data encryption. I found this PC Mag review of Datalock:

ZoneAlarm DataLock Review & Rating | PCMag.com

Will it prevent someone from putting all my data over the internet, or taking my identity and ripping me off?

They got a 60 day free trial, is it worth trying? If anyone here has used it, please do tell...

ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.

mkk · Jan 16, 2011, 01:47 PM

There's a free, open source alternative called TrueCrypt that offers the same basic functionality. TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux On the other hand encrypting the whole drive is usually an overkill method, instead you could use TrueCrypt to encrypt a container file of any size within which you put documents with sensitive information, or run sensitive software like email or whatever. Identity theft however doesn't necessarily need any information off your system. It's important to remember what local encryption really saves against and what it doesn't.

Liqourice · Jan 19, 2011, 12:22 PM

I can definately recommend truecrypt. It's completely free and portable so you could even format a USB stick with it and save all your important information on that instead. Since the software is avaliable for most platforms you can easily access your information even if you don't have access to your own computer.

Though, as mkk says you shouldn't trust these things to much. Remember that there's plenty of information out there already for someone who wishes to use it. Information you can't control no matter what you do.

But for personal documents and data that you don't want others to nose around in truecrypt is a great tool.

Takaharu · Jan 19, 2011, 04:33 PM

PGP Desktop. You can use it for free (it disables some features that we've never needed) and it's pretty user-friendly.
If it's good enough for PCI to use PGP to send credit card details over the Internet it'll probably meet your needs.

Tipstaff · Jan 22, 2011, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Takaharu

PGP Desktop. You can use it for free (it disables some features that we've never needed) and it's pretty user-friendly.
If it's good enough for PCI to use PGP to send credit card details over the Internet it'll probably meet your needs.

It's a 30 day trial now though since v.9.0, isn't it, since Symantec bought them? I think you'd have to find v.8.0 to get the freeware version.

Jan 15, 2011, 06:39 PM	#1
cheftonyganza Let's Conquer the World! Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Dallas, GA Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Does anyone here know about or use encryption software? I am kinda paranoid about someone taking my laptop, and putting all my data over the internet, or taking my identity and ripping me off. A friend told me I should try data encryption. I found this PC Mag review of Datalock: ZoneAlarm DataLock Review & Rating \| PCMag.com Will it prevent someone from putting all my data over the internet, or taking my identity and ripping me off? They got a 60 day free trial, is it worth trying? If anyone here has used it, please do tell... ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.

Jan 16, 2011, 01:47 PM	#2
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,487 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Re: Does anyone here know about or use encryption software? There's a free, open source alternative called TrueCrypt that offers the same basic functionality. TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux On the other hand encrypting the whole drive is usually an overkill method, instead you could use TrueCrypt to encrypt a container file of any size within which you put documents with sensitive information, or run sensitive software like email or whatever. Identity theft however doesn't necessarily need any information off your system. It's important to remember what local encryption really saves against and what it doesn't.

Jan 19, 2011, 12:22 PM	#3
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,692 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Does anyone here know about or use encryption software? I can definately recommend truecrypt. It's completely free and portable so you could even format a USB stick with it and save all your important information on that instead. Since the software is avaliable for most platforms you can easily access your information even if you don't have access to your own computer. Though, as mkk says you shouldn't trust these things to much. Remember that there's plenty of information out there already for someone who wishes to use it. Information you can't control no matter what you do. But for personal documents and data that you don't want others to nose around in truecrypt is a great tool.

Jan 19, 2011, 04:33 PM	#4
Takaharu I can fart in 7 languages Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 1,838 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	Re: Does anyone here know about or use encryption software? PGP Desktop. You can use it for free (it disables some features that we've never needed) and it's pretty user-friendly. If it's good enough for PCI to use PGP to send credit card details over the Internet it'll probably meet your needs. __________________ I don't get paid to know the answer, therefore I'm far more likely to give you a straight and honest answer. Mods Rig, Box Mods Rig, Folding details