Encrypting Files...ramifications

  • Thread starter Thread starter Itz Just Me
  • Start date Start date
I

Itz Just Me

I have been thinking of utilizing the power of my XP Pro to encrypt My
Documents, particularly the files that are related to my work. I am
the only user here, unless someone has hacked into my computer! LOL.

Before I do so, are there any considerations I need to be aware of,
about later ramifications of encrypted files? Just hypothetically,
what if...I later transferred these files to an OS that didn't support
encryption? It seems unlikely now, but perhaps M$ is working on the
new OS that will be the perfect thing for me, and I just don't know
about it yet.

Anything else?
 
Itz said:
I have been thinking of utilizing the power of my XP Pro to encrypt My
Documents, particularly the files that are related to my work. I am
the only user here, unless someone has hacked into my computer! LOL.

Before I do so, are there any considerations I need to be aware of,
about later ramifications of encrypted files? Just hypothetically,
what if...I later transferred these files to an OS that didn't support
encryption? It seems unlikely now, but perhaps M$ is working on the
new OS that will be the perfect thing for me, and I just don't know
about it yet.

Anything else?
Click to expand...

The most likely problem is that your hard drive will crash and even
though you may have a backup of the encrypted files, you haven't backed
up the encryption key, in which case you're S.O.L.

--
-the small one

All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
system.
 
I have been thinking of utilizing the power of my XP Pro to encrypt My
Documents, particularly the files that are related to my work. I am
the only user here, unless someone has hacked into my computer! LOL.

Before I do so, are there any considerations I need to be aware of,
about later ramifications of encrypted files? Just hypothetically,
what if...I later transferred these files to an OS that didn't support
encryption? It seems unlikely now, but perhaps M$ is working on the
new OS that will be the perfect thing for me, and I just don't know
about it yet.

Anything else?
Click to expand...

If you're going to experiment with this feature, suggest doing so with
non-critical files until you get the hang of it. Help and Support has a lot
of info on using EFS. Having a spare copy of the "key" to unlock the
encrypted files is essential. As mentioned in the other reply, if there is
a disk problem and you do not have a backup copy of the necessary keys -
you will lose access to the encrypted files.
 
Back
Top