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How to lock my suit/USB with a password?

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yesar92
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How to lock my suit/USB with a password?

Hi all ,

Till now , I am not having any difficulties with the PortableApps.com Suit , but what if my USB stick is stolen or what if I loose it somewhere , can I lock my stick or my suit with a password?

This will help me secure my private and important data that I carry with me on my USB flash stick and I am sure it will help others too. I have seen MojoPac and I like the idea of having a user name and password menu at the autorun of the USB stick. Can we add the same feature to this platform (I mean PortableApps suit)? and will it also not allow others to explore the contents of my drive?

Thanks ,

Yesar - Basra(IQ)

John T. Haller
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Hardware Encryption

You can use TrueCrypt to secure the whole drive with software encryption. Same limitations as Mojopac, though: you can only run it on admin accounts (ie, computers you own) so it isn't terribly useful for most people.

You can also use a drive with hardware encryption built in. Those will run under limited and guest accounts, too (school, office, hotel business center, net cafe, library, etc) and then you can run the PortableApps.com Suite within it (which also runs under limited and guest accounts).

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

ottosykora
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found that this too is not true always

>You can also use a drive with hardware encryption built in. Those will run under limited and guest accounts, too

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

powerjuce
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Hello yesar92,

Hello yesar92,
Your question is one that has long been asked here at portableapps.com. There are two types of "protection" hardware, and software. For best security you should get hardware protection. Places to get them include:

These options tend to work best as they are part of the drive and therefore work quickly and easily. When you don't want to shell out money for a new drive, we have to use a software option. This is a slightly difficult options as the easiest ways to encrypt and protect data on a drive with software requires Administrative Rights. This is a little difficult here at PortableApps.com as we try and support methods that will work anywhere including on limited accounts. Here are some of the ways that you can password protect data:

  • Truecrypt - Will allow you to create an encrypted volume which you can mount as a disk. This allows for on-the-fly encryption however this requires admin rights
  • 7-zip - this is a popular compression software and it allows you to create an encrypted file, which is protected by a password. This does not require admin rights but it is a little harder to do as it requires you to do this per zip file.

Those are just some solutions that exist, I am sure people can suggest more. If you have any question please do not hesitate to ask.
Regards
~powerjuce

Please search before posting. ~Thanks

yesar92
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Well , I will use TrueCrypt ,

Well , I will use TrueCrypt , as I cant find the proper hardware in Iraq , as we are not that connected to eBay and most of the hardware are Chinese duplicates.

But will TrueCrypt run on guest accounts or standard user account (Not admins)??

Jimbo
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Two things....

firstly, no, TrueCrypt (and ALL other software that presents an encrypted container as a drive letter) will always require that it is either run with admin permissions, or firstly installed with admin permissions and then run as a normal user. there is no way around this in windows, and never will be.

Secondly, to the best of my knowledge, any encryption technology, either hardware or software, is under legal restrictions in Iraq, so I would strongly urge that you take local legal advice before you do anything else Smile

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