Simple but effective file encryption?

Hi, I'm looking to add a measure of encryption protection for sensitive files on my computer. Is Windows' Encryption File System (EFS) worth messing with? Is there a better alternative?

Looking around the web, what I've found so far is:
Encrypting is easy
Decrypting is automatic for the user who created the file

But it seems that if I reinstall Windows, or copy the file to another computer, or pop the HDD into another computer, or the key gets corrupted ... etc. etc. .... the file will be inaccesible unless I previously had backed up the key. I've not been able to find clear instructions how to do that.

Everything I read seems to be talking about a special situation, like
if the computer is on a network, part of a workgroup, or a domain, etc.

I just want to back up the key on a standalone computer so I can access the file myself later in one of the above circumstances.

Can anyone make this more sensible to me, or point me in another direction?

I have XP Pro SP2 on one computer and Windows 2000 SP4 on another one. Also, no one seems to be saying this explicitly, but EFS is contingent on the file system being NTFS, is it not? Some of my partitions are FAT32.

Thanks,
Ted

 

The biggest issue I find with windows encryption is that there exists a major problem that saved files if you leave them encrypted when you back them up (rather than saving a non encrypted copy) will not be accessible if you have to do a clean install or if your profile gets corrupted. Even taking possession of does not help.

I would use a third party encryption program which operates independently of your profile / windows so that if you need to decrypt something in a backup or if you need to do a clean install you do not loose your data.

If you do use windows encryption, make sure that the data copy you save as a backup is not encrypted.


http://www.5starsupport.com/info/xpinfo.htm#encrypted-files

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=257754#XSLTH3146121123120121120120

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314870&Product=winxp

http://www.kiesoft.com/eb/manual/stdwin/restore.htm

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=5387

Many similar horror stories there, just scroll down, or search for "After I rebuilt "

 

Yes, as I said above, that is exactly the problem I am asking about. I have found some Microsoft documents that explain how to back up the key so that it can be re-applied after a clean install, etc., which would solve this problem. But they all seem to be talking about computers as part of a domain or workgroup, and therefore I am afraid the instructions might not apply, since my machine is neither.

See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;241201&sd=tech

Thanks.

 

Since you are running XP-pro and 2K, you have a fairly simple solution that avoids all the encryption horror tales.

You can set file or folder security so that only the logged on users you specify can have the amount of access you want.

Take a look by right-clicking a file or folder, clicking on properties, then on the security tab.