27 Oct 2011

File Encryption

Introduction
Do you ever worry that someone might see your most important data, that they may learn your most intimate secrets? If you save your sacred files on a USB flash drive and lose it, maybe a stranger or even an enemy will get to discover those secrets! Maybe if you store files using a cloud based service such as Google Docs or Microsoft Skydrive, it worries you that these corporations can read your important work at their leisure? 

There is a solution, you can use file encryption. Encryption scrambles a file so it is unreadable. You must use a password to unscramble (decrypt) the file so you may read the data as usual. There are many solutions and in this article I'll be explaining some of them.


What's your goal?
There are some different ways to encrypt files and different tools you can use. Which tool you use depends on what your ultimate goal is. Here are three common examples of common encryption scenarios:
  • Encrypt files on a USB flash drive
  • Encrypt some files stored on a network share
  • Encrypt files some files on my hard disk drive (C: drive)
  • Encrypt an entire local drive (C:, D:, etc)
  • Encrypt files for sending as e-mail attachments 
The above are very common scenarios that we can break down into the following:
  1. Encrypt a drive
  2. Encrypt a file(s)
  3. Encrypt a file(s) for transport
I've numbered them in order of flexibility. Let's look at each one in turn:


1. Encrypt a drive
To encrypt a whole drive means that any file copied or saved to that computer will be encrypted 'on-the-fly' (automatically). This can be great, you don't need to think about encryption, you just use your computer normally and the files are secure. The down side is that if there's a problem, Windows crashes and can't start up properly for example, it might mean that you will be unable to recover any of your files. Another common problem is that because the computer is having to encrypt and decrypt files all the time, even system files, it may slow down. Of course encrypting a whole drive is not going to be appropriate if your goal is only to protect files you send by e-mail. 

I would recommend you think long and hard about encrypting any drive before you do it. Make sure you have a good back up of your data at all times.

To encrypt a whole drive there are many tools, Windows 7 BitLocker can do this, TrueCrypt and others. 


2. Encrypt a file(s)
A more flexible approach is to encrypt only the files you want to protect, not your entire drive. For example, with a program like TrueCrypt you can create a special file that acts like a container. It can appear as a virtual drive on your computer, in other words the container is represented by a drive letter. This can be handy, you can easily save files to it and as you do they are encrypted 'on the fly'. You could also create one of these 'container' files on a USB flash drive and when you copy files to it, they are encrypted. 

The advantage of this method over encrypting the entire drive is that you could even copy that encrypted files somewhere else, onto another USB flash drive, to a DVD, to Google Docs, where ever. The disadvantage is that with programs like TrueCrypt, when you create an encrypted file, a 'container', you have to specify the size from the beginning no matter what is stored inside. For example, you may only have two megabytes of files but the container encrypted file maybe ten megabytes in size.


3.  Encrypt a file(s) for transport
If you want to sent a file or files as e-mail attachments but you want to protect them in case the e-mail is intercepted along the way, you may need to use a different kind of encryption method. In this scenario you need the most flexible solution because the person receiving the file may not have the same software as you, asking them to install something can be a pain.

The solution is to use a program such as WinZip or 7-Zip to make a compressed file and put a password on the file. For example, you can create a file called "important.zip" and add a file or files to it. Inside WinZip or 7-Zip use the Encrypt option to add a password. AES encryption is recommended - more about this later in the article.

One downside of this method is that files are not encrypted 'on the fly'. Every time you add a file you must add a password. Every time you want to extract a file you have to enter the password. You would need to manage many passwords. The file names are also visible even when encrypted. This may not be a big deal but in some cases you don't want that. The saving grace of this method is that it is the most flexible and ideal for securing files you are going to e-mailing.


Tools
Microsoft BitLocker. This is great, it allows you to encrypt your entire hard drive or USB flash drive. But it only comes with Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise editions. 

TrueCrypt is a good alternative. It's open source, free, powerful yet relatively easy to use. For the techies out there, it can even be run from the command line. TrueCrypt can use many different encryption methods including the reliable AES encryption.

WinZip or 7-Zip - WinZip is shareware, it has a good interface but eventually you should buy it. 7-Zip is open source, free, it can open zip, rar and it's very own 7z format files. Both WinZip and 7-Zip can encrypt with AES encryption. 

There are other programs like WinZip and 7-zip, like WinRAR for example. Most of these work in a similar way. I'm talking about WinZip and 7-zip here just as examples. If you prefer something else, that's fine.


Encryption Strength
When using WinZip and 7-Zip there's a standard zip encryption called "Zip 2.0 encryption". I do not recommend this. 

Always use AES encryption. The higher the bit number the better. For example, AES 256-bit is stronger than 128-bit. What does 'stronger' mean? Well it means the higher the bit rate, the longer it would take for a hacker to discover your password. AES is very secure, it's used by the US government.


Conclusion
For anyone who wants to encrypt some files with the least bother, use WinZip, 7-zip or similar. It's also flexible enough to use anywhere and even to send as an e-mail attachment. 

If you want something more sophisticated but free, try TrueCrypt. It has an option to encrypt an entire drive but I would recommend you start with only using the encryption 'file containers'. That's the most flexible option.

BitLocker is should be considered primarily by enterprises. 


Reference

Bitlocker at Microsoft.com

TrueCrypt

WinZip

7-Zip

AES Encryption


12 Oct 2011

Trace the source of an e-mail

Gmail 'Show original' (15/11/12)
Have you ever received an e-mail and wondered if you could check where it really came from? You can find out using the header information from any e-mail you receive.

Most e-mail software have a way to show the header information, for example:

  • In Gmail you can click the Show original option - see the example opposite.
  • In Outlook 2013, with the e-mail open click File | Properties.

Once you have the header text, copy it (select it and press Ctrl-C). 

You can paste the header text into an e-mail tracing website - it will analyse the information for you. For example:
(last accessed 16/04/2014)

Websites such as the one above can show you where in the world the e-mail was sent from - interesting!

However, a word of warning, sophisticated spam e-mails may be able to fake the header text. Another problem is that the header may only show the ISP (Internet Service Provider) of the e-mail. This of course maybe enough for you, just to know which country the e-mail came from of course. The most important thing to remember is that these websites (like the one above) can give you an indication or confirmation of the source of an e-mail but don't rely on the information 100%.



Updated 16th April 2014

6 Oct 2011

Runtime Error when starting Photoshop Elements

Problem
I had installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 on my Windows 7 Professional 64-bit PC. It was working fine for a few hours and then when I started it, I clicked the Edit button to start the editor and it displayed the following error message:


Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program: C:\Program Files (x...

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the applications' support team for more information.



Solution
  1. Browse to: C:\Program Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\9.0\Locale\en_us
  2. Rename: MediaDatabase.db3 to MediaDatabase.old
  3. Start Photoshop Elements, it should work now. Be patient the first time you start it though, it is a bit slow starting the first time.

NOTE:
If you can't see the folder C:\Program Data it is because by default Windows Explorer is set not to show hidden files/folders. To change this, in Windows Explorer click Organize | Folder and Search Options | View 
Make sure Show hidden files, folders and drives is selected - see the screen shot opposite.























Reference
Thanks to Brett N for this solution, I found it here:

4 Oct 2011

Backup your data!

Introduction
For anyone who has suffered a hard drive crash you will know the worth of having a backup of your data files. Application software like MS Office can be reinstalled but your precious holiday snaps or your dearest musings are priceless to you. You need to keep your files safe - you need to backup!


Backing up is a Pain!
Backing up really is a pain. You have to remember to do it and the hard drive crash or other disaster comes always at that time just before you were going to do another backup. It's a chore and let's face it, we're all a bit lazy and complacent when it comes to backing up.

Windows XP and Windows 7 Professional have nice backup programs, there are also many others available. But these traditional programs need to run at a scheduled time. That means your backup is like a moment in time. If a day after you last backed up your computer crashes, you've lost a day's worth of files! Also, what do you backup to? DVD? How many and how long will that take? A lot and a long time!


The Solution
Wouldn't it be good if the computer would backup the data for you, without you have to do anything much? My advice is to purchase an external USB hard disk drive that comes with 'on-the-fly' backup software. In other words, a drive that backs up files automatically as you use your computer.

A few months ago (during 2011) I bought a Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB. It's a very small portable hard disk. It supports USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. This drive comes with WD SmartWare software, install it onto your Windows computer and it'll run in the background. When a file is saved or created, it is backed up automatically to your external drive. If you accidentally delete a file from your C: drive, you can still restore it from your backup because WD SmartWare stores multiple versions of files.


My Requirements
Everyone has their own requirements for purchasing any product, this is no different. But I thought I'd explain my reasons for getting this particular model, the My Passport Essential SE. I wanted 1TB of space. I wanted USB 3.0 so it would be very fast. I attached the drive to my desktop computer - you may wonder why I wanted a portable drive as it's more expensive than a desktop hard drive. The reason is that I don't have to plug it into the power, it's powered directly from the computer's USB port. It's small, it takes up very little physical space. As I said, these are personal reasons, you may have different requirements, I thought I'd share mine in case it helps you decide on what's best for you.


Conclusion
My computer's hard disk had a problem recently and I had to reinstall the whole computer. I restored my files from my My Passport Essential SE, it worked like a charm. This is the ultimate test, to restore the data, WD SmartWare worked for me. I'm sure other manufacturer's similar solutions also work well. My most important advice here is to backup and to get an external drive like the My Passport Essential. I think it's worth the cost, it's like an insurance policy and I can tell you from my experience that it works.


Reference
Western Digital My Passport Essential SE (last accessed 04/10/2011)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=430

TechCrunch review 2009 (last accessed 04/10/2011)
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/20/review-western-digital-my-book-essential-with-smartware-backup-software/

TechRadar review 2009 (last accessed 04/10/2011)
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/disk-drives-hdd-ssd-/western-digital-my-passport-essential-500gb-475325/review