USB key

TrueCrypt is your friend

Hello again folks, I hope everyone’s week has been going great! So I wanted to talk about a program that has been around for some time. That program is TrueCrypt, an encryption program that you can use to create encrypted volumes on your hard drive for file storage or to even encrypt the entire system.

In this day and age of mobility, it makes sense to create an encrypted folder on your laptop hard drive or on your USB key. This way if your laptop or USB key gets stolen, your data isn’t compromised. There are many products out there that do this for a price, but why pay when you can get TrueCrypt for free! TrueCrypt is Open Source and it does a great job of providing you with encryption capabilities.

With TrueCrypt you can even create hidden encrypted volumes so people can’t see that you have even encrypted something. With the government having been given sweeping powers to take away your electronic gadgets in the name of “terrorism” you can easily lose company secrets to prying eyes. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust anybody looking at my company data except my company. There is no need for other people to be looking at this stuff without a court ordered warrant. I believe that we all should have a reasonable right to privacy. Instead we’re all treated like criminals and are guilty until proven innocent these days which is really unfortunate. With TrueCrypt you can fight the good fight and ensure that your company data is secure even if someone tries to steal or confiscate your stuff.

You can download it here.

-RP

Portable Apps

Sometimes the key to being a good consultant is having the right tools at the right time. There are a lot of tools out there, some complex and some simple and straightforward that I use on a regular basis.

One of the easiest ways to carry tools around is on a USB flash drive. There are many self contained executable programs out there that will run off of a USB flash drive enabling you to use them on the go. This is especially handy to the consultant that is always on the move.

One of the simple suites of apps I like to carry around on my USB flash drive are from PortableApps.com. There you can find a lot of nice useful apps for your flash drive.

 -RP