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Lightweight portable encryption


From: Michael Russell <mr_b15h0p () hotmail com>
Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 13:56:35 -0400

Hi all,
I'm looking for opinions on a light-weight, portable encryption program. What I mean by that is something that has the following characteristics: * The program should be small enough to fit on (and run off of) a USB flash-drive. * I want to be able to encrypt 1 or more files with a reasonably strong algorithm. * I should be able to take the encrypted files/volume to another computer and open the files with only the program and passphrase (ie, the volume isn't limited to use on the system that it was created on). * Needs to be able to work at least on Windows 2000/XP (OS X/Linux would be nice as well, but not really necessary for me at this point).

I carry my USB flash-drive with me quite often, and am terribly concerned about leaving it in a computer somewhere or having it stolen. While I don't keep top-secret documents on it, I do often have client files that, while not damaging, could be embarrassing to lose.

I've started using TrueCrypt (www.truecrypt.org), and it seems to work well. I can run it from my flash drive, copy the encrypted volumes between computers, etc. However, I would appreciate opinions from other people - opinions on TrueCrypt, or other programs with similar features that they have had good/bad experiences with.

Many thanks,
Michael


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