For the longest time, I've been looking for a free program that would allow me to safely encrypt certain files on my computer. I have tried many different freeware options, but none were as secure or as easy to use as the program I'm going to show you today. It's called AxCrypt and it's bursting with magnificent features. Let's check it out, shall we?!

1.) If you want to begin encrypting or password protecting your files, you’ll get some good use out of AxCrypt. Here's the download link.

2.) Follow the setup instructions and after it has completed, exit out of the setup wizard.

3.) If you already have a folder with all of the files you want to encrypt, that’s great! If not, create a folder and then continue to step 4.

4.) Right click on the folder and scroll down to AxCrypt. Next, select Encrypt and a box will prompt you to enter and confirm a password.

Do that and then click OK.

5.) Now, open your folder and you'll notice that the icons have changed. Double click on one of the files and once again, you'll be asked for your password. The file will only open if the password is entered.

6.) While using a password to secure your files is a good idea, a key-file is even more secure. A key-file is a special text file containing a random string of characters, which is your key. The file is placed on a USB drive, which means the encrypted folder can only be opened if the USB drive is plugged in and AxCrypt is pointed to the correct key-file. If that sounds a little too complicated, don’t worry! It will all make sense once you're finished.

7.) So, go ahead and plug in your USB drive (flash drive) if you have one. You can also use a floppy disk if you'd like. Right click on your encrypted folder, click AxCrypt, then Make Key-File.

8.) Find the directory for your USB drive and click Save. Open the Encrypt dialogue box again and enter your password twice. Also, where it says Key-File, choose the one you just saved on your USB drive and click OK.

9.) Now, when you try to open a file in the encrypted folder, you will be prompted to select the key-file. Someone who doesn’t have access to your USB drive will not be able to open the files, even if they do know your password.

10.) You feel safer already, don’t you?! It’s good to know that all of your private documents can only be accessed if the USB drive is present. It’s very important for you to never accidentally delete the key-file. It’s actually a good idea to make a copy of it and keep it on another disk somewhere safe.

11.) Finally, I have one last feature to show you! Have you ever felt a little leery about deleting files with sensitive information? You wouldn’t want that information to reach the wrong hands, now would you? Luckily, AxCrypt contains propecia alternative a shredding feature that overwrites the deleted files with random information.

12.) If you want to “shred” a file, right click on it, choose AxCrypt and then select Shred and Delete. That's it!

I hope you enjoy AxCrypt. Stay safe!

http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/

Q:
Is there a fix yet for the ZoneAlarm problem you talked about in Friday's newsletter? If so, please tell us what we can do. Thanks for all your help!

A:
I knew this question would be popping up all over the place throughout the weekend and I was right! My e-mail Inbox is just filled with queries about the ZoneAlarm issue. First, just to get everyone up to speed, if you missed the article in Friday's newsletter (July 11, 2008), you can read it here. Basically, there was a complication between the July 2008 Windows Updates and the ZoneAlarm firewall program. After many users installed the Updates, they were left without an Internet connection, because ZoneAlarm was unable to recognize the changes. You can read all about it in the tip above, but for now, let's get down to business!

ZoneAlarm has released a few fixes for the Windows Updates problem. There are three different things you can do to get your computer back to normal. I'll go over all three of them and you can then decide which one will work the best for you. They're all legit and fairly easy to do, so just pick the one you think will benefit your computer the most. Okay, here we go!

1.) You can download and install all of the latest versions of ZoneAlarm, including ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, ZoneAlarm Pro, ZoneAlarm Antivirus, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware and ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall. You can click on those links to download each separate program. With all of those utilities working together, you will be able to get your Internet connection back and your computer will run the same as it did before. If you don't want to install all of those programs (which is understandable), you can try one of the other methods below.

2.) The second option is moving your ZoneAlarm Internet Zone slider to the Medium setting. To do that, propecia allergy go to the ZoneAlarm Firewall window and click on the Firewall tab. From there, simply move the Internet Zone slider to Medium. Yours is probably set on High, so you just need to take it down a couple notches.

3.) The third option is actually uninstalling the Windows Updates hotfix that caused the trouble in the first place. To do that, go to Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. At the top of the Add/Remove Programs window, you should see a Show Updates checkbox. Check that box and then scroll down until you see an entry that says "Security update for Windows (KB951748)." (It should be one of the last items in your list). Once you've found it, click on the Remove button and the hotfix will uninstall.

Again, any of those three methods will reinstate your Internet access and you'll be able to do everything as usual again. You should also know that this issue only affects Windows 2000 and XP computers. Windows Vista is not affected. One more thing: if you're still having trouble after you go through this tip, you can contact ZoneAlarm's technical support here. After today, I hope you're all back up and running like you should be!

Q:
I installed the Windows Updates for July yesterday like you told us to and now I'm having trouble getting connected to the Internet. It seems as if the Updates changed something on my computer and I can't get it to work right. Do you know anything about this? If you do, please help!

A:
I was going to talk about this today anyway, so I'm glad you asked! And from the looks of all the e-mails I've received, you're definitely not the only one having trouble. As you all know, in yesterday's newsletter, I told you about the Windows Updates for July 2008. Like I always do, I urged you to install them as soon as possible, because they're a guaranteed way to keep your computer safe. Well, due to the content of some of the changes this month, a few issues came up, but don't worry, we're going to take care of them today. Let's go!

First of all, I'm willing to bet that if you had trouble with the Windows Updates, you're also using the ZoneAlarm firewall program. Am I right? Soon after the Updates were released, it was found that they caused a conflict with ZoneAlarm. It caused so much propecia age havoc that many users were unable to connect to the Internet. What a nightmare!

One of the Updates included changing the way your computer handles DNS requests. After your computer adjusted to the update, ZoneAlarm was left out in the dark, because it couldn't recognize the change. Therefore, the only thing ZoneAlarm knew to do was block traffic. And that obviously caused all kinds of problems for many people. It seems as if Microsoft didn't notify firewall manufacturers about the DNS update, so they didn't have time to prepare for it. Yes, it's unfortunate, but there are a couple things you can do in the meantime.

To begin, you should never disable your firewall completely. So, even if you're having trouble with ZoneAlarm, do not turn it off. Instead, it's a good idea to change your Internet Zone Security setting from High to Medium. Doing that should allow you to get back on the Internet for the time being. Then once Microsoft and ZoneAlarm come up with a patch, you can change the setting back to High.

If you simply want to wait until a patch is released, you can disable ZoneAlarm, but make sure you have another firewall to use in its place. You can either download a new one, get one from another vendor (such as Norton or McAffee) or you can use the Windows Firewall by going to Start, Control Panel, Security Center, Windows Firewall. Just make sure you have some type of firewall set up on your computer. Otherwise, you're putting yourself at risk for even more trouble.

That's pretty much all the information I have for you right now, but it does sound like both Microsoft and ZoneAlarm are working on a fix for this issue. I will continue to keep you updated as any more news comes through. Hang in there, my friends. Everything will be back to normal soon!

Today, I have a free download for you called TrueCrypt. It's a program that allows you to make encrypted virtual drives so that your important data is password protected. While I have reviewed many programs that allow you to password protect certain items on your computer, TrueCrypt is the first one I have found that will allow you to password protect data on a flash drive. That means, when you plug your flash drive into any computer, you will have to enter a password in order to access the files you have encrypted. I think that's awesome and this is the first free program I have been able to find that will do it.

Before I get into the specifics, I want to say how important it is for you to follow these directions carefully. Read over them completely before you do anything, just to make sure you're comfortable with the process. Anyone can do this, as long as you follow along carefully.

First, you will need two things:

1.) A USB flash memory card. Any size is fine, but it must be blank.

2.) The free TrueCrypt software, which you can get here: http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php

Okay, here we go!

To begin, download TrueCrypt from the link above and save it to your desktop.

Next, find the file you saved on your desktop and install it. That will install the TrueCrypt program on your computer. It needs to be installed on the computer in order to set up the flash drive, but it will not be needed after that. Choose the Install option and then click Next.

After the installation is complete, plug your flash drive into the computer and allow the system some time to properly recognize and install it. That should happen automatically. Now, go to My Computer and write down the drive letter the system has assigned to your flash drive. On my computer, my flash drive has been assigned the letter J:, but it will probably be different for you. Please make sure you know the drive letter before continuing.

After figuring out the drive letter, close the My Computer screen. There should be a new icon on your desktop for the TrueCrypt program. Double click on that to open it.

When you open the program, you'll see a screen with a bunch of drive letters on it. That screen is used to choose the drive letter that will be assigned to your encrypted files drive. TrueCrypt works by creating a new drive letter for your protected data. Anything you put on the new drive will automatically be secured by your password. We will now put the drive on your blank flash drive.

On the TrueCrypt screen, choose a drive letter by clicking on it. I chose letter X: for my drive, but you can choose any letter you'd like. After selecting a letter, click on the Create Volume button.

Next, we'll go through the settings to create the drive. Please follow along carefully!

The first screen that comes up will ask you what you want to create. Choose the Create a File Container option and then click Next.

The next screen will ask you the volume type. Choose Standard TrueCrypt Volume and then click Next.

The next screen will ask you to choose the volume location. This is where you will need to know the drive letter for your flash drive. You need to tell the program where the encrypted files will be saved. To do that, click on the Select File button. A new prescription for propecia window will open that allows you to look through your files. On that screen, go to My Computer and double click on your flash drive's letter. After doing that, type "encrypted" into the file name box (you can actually type any file name here, I just chose "encrypted"). It should look like this:

Click Save and then click Next.

The next screen asks you about encryption options. You don't need to do anything here, so just click Next.

Okay, now you should be on a screen that says Volume Size. That screen asks how much space you want to use on your flash drive for encrypted files. It will tell you how much space is available, but you don't want to use it all. I chose to use 2,000 MB. That should be plenty.

After choosing your size, click Next. The next screen will ask you for a password. Type in the password you want to use for your files and then confirm it by typing it in again (no checks are needed in the other boxes on the screen). Then click Next. Note: The program will tell you that a very large password is recommended. It's truly up to you how big you want your password to be. There's no point in encrypting your files if you can't remember the password for them later!

The next screen will actually encrypt the folder. The program creates an encryption code based on the movement of your mouse. Just move your mouse around for awhile and then click on the Format button.

Then just wait. This part will take some time. It's formatting the drive so that you can use it.

After it's finished, click OK and then Finish.

We're done with the first part!

The next part is much quicker.

Go back to the main TrueCrypt screen (the one with the drive letters on it). Then go to the Tools menu and click on Traveler Disk Setup.

That will open the area to make the flash drive work on any computer.

You will then see a screen with a few options. Here's what you do:

First, click Browse in the File Settings box. On that screen, select your flash drive's letter (the one you wrote down before) and click OK.

Next, put a dot next to Automount TrueCrypt Volume. Then click Browse in the box below. Click on the file you created in the last set of steps. (I named mine "encrypted," what did you name yours?) Then click Open.

Finally, put a check in the box that says "Open Explorer window for mounted volume." Then click Create. Here's what it should look like:

After clicking Create, you will get a message saying it's done. Click OK and then close out everything.

Congratulations! You're done!

Now, you can disconnect the flash drive and then reconnect it. It should ask you for your password and then open a blank space for you to copy your files.

Note: If you see a screen like this:

Just click Mount TrueCrypt Volume, then OK.

One last thing: In order for this to work correctly, you must be an Administrator on the computer you're plugging the drive into. That's the case most of the time, but if not, you can right click on the drive and choose Run as Administrator. That will fix it.

I know this seems like a lot, but it really only takes a couple minutes if you follow the directions. Plus, if you want to undo everything, all you have to do is go to My Computer, right click on the drive and choose Format. That will make it good as new, removing any changes you made. Enjoy!

Windows XP Service Pack 3
Update your copy of Windows XP to take advantage of the latest features and security enhancements.
License: Free
OS: fsa propecia Windows XP