Tom is a salesman who uses his laptop to manage his clients. He asks: “Is there a way to make the data safe in case I lose my laptop?” Tom, there are a couple solutions which you can use in case your laptop is lost or stolen. No matter the system you employ I would suggest duplicating your data and storing it away from your laptop.
Encryption is the method of converting data in a way that others can’t access. In your case, you are most likely going to be changing a database (and contents) into an obfuscated file which cannot be opened without the appropriate permissions. In some cases the files can be opened; however, they will not be usable.
Certain versions of Windows Vista and 7 have encryption built in. Before you start searching for it on your system, only Business and Ultimate versions are so equipped. Unfortunately most systems aren’t going to have this option available to them. There is a free solution that is available to everyone and is truly safe.
You can download a free program called TrueCrypt which is fairly easy to use. Successful implementation of TrueCrypt requires “mounting” the encrypted files each time the system restarts. When I first started using TrueCrypt I found it quite annoying; but I soon realized the purpose of encryption is to keep the data safe. Consider the original question which is based on losing your laptop. The data is still stored on the machine; however, upon restart the data won’t be visible or usable without your password.
Ruth is going through a divorce and has questions about remotely accessing her computer with this question: “Can my husband remotely access my computer without my knowledge?” Yes, your husband can remotely access your computer without you knowing it. It is fairly easy to setup remote access on a system and monitor it from a remote location.
For your husband to remotely monitor your system he would need access to your computer. There are some really nasty programs which automatically handle this task and they’re fairly easy to deploy. Computer savvy users can setup a computer as a remote server and access it from another location. The latter technique is a little more difficult to install and detect. At the shop we have seen many successful and failed attempts to monitor computers. I recently foiled a very good attempt on my own system which was installed by an ex-employee.
The good news of all this is that most people aren’t going to be as persistent as my ex-employee. Most of the time, people are going to install keyloggers and remote monitoring software which is easily picked up by virus and spyware software. All the titles which I’ve discussed in prior articles are going to pick up 99% of this type of software.
I suggest if you do find this type of software you do not panic. I would simply remove it and move forward with life. Most software treats this as a virus attack and deletes it automatically from your system. If you suspect your husband has definitely installed something like this then you can certainly re-install your operating system and move forward. Reloading Windows is the only way to fully guarantee he will not have access to your system.
Some methods of insuring your system will not be infiltrated in the future are pretty easy to follow. First, do not let him have physical access to your computer after you remove the files. Second, do not open any e-mails from him which contain attachments. Attachments may contain remote access software even if they’re disguised as pictures. Finally, you can install a firewall which monitors ingoing and outgoing traffic.
Tech-Tip of the week: 64 bit versions of Microsoft Windows allow higher amounts of memory to be installed. Windows 7 64 bit will allow you to use your system to its fullest capacity.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can e-mail him at Jeromy@LocalComputerWiz.com or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)