News - Creating good passwords - Creating good passwords and using encryption — Part 1I

                In last month’s article I explained how to create strong passwords that are difficult to obtain by unauthorized intruders. Here’s how to further protect the data saved on your PC.

    In its infancy, encryption was largely used by the military. With the birth of the Internet, encryption is used by online banking sites, marketing firms and the general public.

    So, what is encryption? Encryption is a method in which algorithmic schemes encode plain text into a non-readable form. If you didn’t get that, just think about the word ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ with it’s letters scrambled to an un recognizable form  and waiting to be placed in a readable order. Now you have an idea of what encryption does.

    Microsoft Windows XP ships with Encrypting File System. This is the core file encrypting technology which is used to encrypt files within Windows. You encrypt and decrypt a folder or file by following these instructions.

    First make sure your XP account is password protected. After you have created a credible password, proceed to a file or folder which you want encrypted. Now right click the file or folder, then go to the General Tab and click Advanced. Select the Encrypt Contents to Secure Data checkbox and click ok, then click ok on the Properties box. Once you have completed these steps you will notice that your file now has green text. From this point on any unauthorized users trying to open your encrypted files or folders will receive the following message: User Does Not Have Access Privileges. 

    Tip of the Month – Want to use the Windows on Screen Keyboard, click Start, Run; type osk and click OK.

    Acronym to know: RAM. To learn more visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM. 

    If you have general questions for the System Dude, email eric@talktechno.net