Keep Your Secrets: A Safe, Easy Way to Encrypt Files

How do I encrypt files, and which ones should I encrypt?

Conrad Layne, Plain City, Ohio

Any system that encrypts your entire hard drive is overkill for most PC users. I prefer encrypted safes, which are files that contain encrypted folders and files. To the outside world, a safe looks like a big file filled with gobbledygook. Open a safe with its password, and you reveal a virtual drive holding your sensitive data. When you're done and you close the safe, the data reverts to gobbledygook.

Safes are easy to use, transportable from one PC to another, and a breeze to back up. I recommend the free open-source safe program TrueCrypt, which supports AES-256, Blowfish, Triple DES, and other heavy-duty encryption algorithms. TrueCrypt hides your safe well--if you're in the belt-and-suspenders crowd, it can even place your safe inside another safe.

Remember: No encryption is secure with an easy-to-guess password. Safest is a string of 20 or more apparently random letters and numbers. But how do you remember such a password?

Make up an easy-to-remember but impossible-to-figure-out formula of family names, birthdays, and memorable words. For instance, use your kids' names spelled backward, with every third letter capitalized, followed by your birthday squared--be sure, though, not to use a formula that has been printed in PC World. Click here for more tips on crafting secure passwords.

Write the password or the formula on a business card and carry it in your wallet. It's unlikely that someone will steal your wallet and your PC, and even less likely that they'll figure the card out.

What files should you put in the safe? Any that you don't want crooks, competitors, coworkers, or even your own children to see. One top priority is financial information, especially if it involves credit card, bank, or Social Security numbers. Passwords to retail Web sites should also be stored in the safe. You might put some sensitive work-related files there as well (although your IS department likely has an encryption policy). Your résumé , family photos, private e-mail, and other files that you want to keep secure and confidential are candidates for the safe, too.

Customize Office Dialog Boxes
Can I change the shortcuts on the Places Bar in Microsoft Office File Open and Save dialog boxes?

Karen Brown, Loudon, Tennessee

The office places bar lets you put shortcuts to your favorite folders in the Open and Save dialog boxes in Office apps like Word and Excel. You'll find the Places Bar on the left side of File, Open and File, Save, as well as other dialog boxes.

To add a shortcut to the Places Bar in Office 2002 and 2003, open any Office dialog box with a Places Bar, and navigate to and select (but don't open) the folder to which you want fast access. Now click Tools, Add to "My Places"; your folder will appear at the bottom of the Places Bar. If it's not visible, right-click the bar and select Small Icons, or resize the dialog box by dragging its bottom edge.

Right-click any Places icon for options to relocate or remove it. Unfortunately, Office won't allow you to replace any of the default icons, but you can move them below your own preferences.

In Office 2007 (running on XP, not Vista), navigate to the folder you want to add to the Places Bar, right-click the bar, select Add, and then enter the folder's name. (To customize the Places Bar for non-Office applications, including the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers, click here.)

Print the Screen
What's the simplest way to print what's currently on the screen?

Bert Green, Lake Worth, Florida

Your keyboard's key copies the current image to the clipboard. Once there, you can paste it into Windows' own Paint utility or other image program. You can also paste it into Microsoft Word and other Office applications.

My favorite free screen-capture programs are Kubilus Consulting Service's MegaCap, and Gadwin's PrintScreen. MegaCap is so simple it hardly requires thought. PrintScreen is harder to use, but it has far more options. For instance, PrintScreen lets you capture the full screen or the current window, with or without the mouse cursor.

Check Out This Tool to Check Your Updates
Harold Pont of Clearfield, Utah, responded to my earlier tip on downloading and saving Windows updates by recommending another option: Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer. The free program scans your PC, says which security updates you lack, and then gives you the chance to download and save them--an easy way to see your update needs, fix them, and stow patches for later. One caveat: The app requires Microsoft's annoying and controversial Windows Genuine Advantage.