Don't let thieves mine your files and backups

Sam Stamport had a nightmarish problem:

"I was the unfortunate victim of a burglary a few days ago. Fortunately I was not at home when it happened so I am OK, but a portable hard drive was stolen with my backup data on it. The computer itself was not stolen thank goodness! The police said the thief probably saw the portable hard drive and thought it was an iPod.

"I got to thinking about how to protect my private data on a portable hard drive AND how to protect my data on my computer's hard drive. I know that I can set a login password in Vista, but are there other steps one can take if a computer or portable hard drive is stolen to prevent thieves from accessing data on the hard drives?"

Sure, Sam! Free, easy-to-use, high-quality disk encryption is available for all versions of Windows and can make all your files and backups totally unreadable by anyone — except you! That's the top topic in my columns in the Windows Secrets newsletter this week, and it includes links to recommended tools.

The other items this week include:

• RAM mix-up (Reader's friend put 10 pounds of memory in a 5 pound bag)
  
  
• Links within documents yield weird error (word processor glitch)
  
  
• Who's using your Wi-Fi connection? (easy ways to find out!)

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