Setting up encrypted My Documents with TrueCrypt.
think: business data security.
There are several good howtos, but I will put another one for my friends an neighbors.
Why?
I worked for two unrelated companies in Poland, and both of them suffered from laptop theft and confidential data loss. Both times it was a theft during normal working hours. In first case CEO's laptop, in second case two laptops of high managers. (disclaimer: both incidents happened quite long time ago, and I'm not making the news, and I don't have any more details)
The tools for protection are easy as <put your favourite here>, but still many people do not use it.
Install TrueCrypt.
(easy. get installer from here).
Create volume
Login to your account.
Create volume from TrueCrypt GUI or with "C:\Program Files\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt Format.exe".
- Choose default "create encrypted file container".
- Choose default "standard truecrypt volume".
- Choose file location; I'd recommend "C:\Documents and Settings\YourUser\my_documents.tc" (or C:\Users\YourUser\my_documents.tc, or wherever the profile is).
- Choose default encryption / hashing algorithms unless you really know the difference.
- Choose volume size; remember that: (a) all space will be preallocated, (b) it's not possible to resize existing partition.
- Choose passsword, you can use keyfile/smartcard/token for auth too.
- Choose a filesystem, NTFS is ok. Do not use Dynamic (sparse file) because such volumes are slower and unsecure.
- Click Format.
- Never forget the password.
- Never write down the password.
Add mounting your new volume to your startup
Go to your Startup folder (it's "Menu Start\Programs\Startup")
You can do this either of two ways:
- with Windows shortcut (screenshot here)
- or with mount_my_docs.cmd batch:
@echo off REM automount encrypted vol for disk X: "c:\Program Files\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe" /v my_documents.tc /lX /a /q
Now, test the batch/shortcut by double clicking it.
Next, test the shortcut by logging out and back in.
Relocate your sensitive data into encrypted volume
Right Click My Documents, choose Properties and change location.
When you click OK, it will offer to move all files - probably you want to say Yes.
From now on, keep sensitive data inside My Documents (X: drive).
That's it!
Simple and a lot more secure than running with laptop full of business data.
windows/unix unicode hell
Task: convert legal UTF8 into Windows native unicode (lilttle-endian, UTF-16).
Solution: UTF8ToUnicode.pl
This way you will identical file as if you opened input with Notepad and saved as "Unicode".
Nowe zastosowania MS Windows
W naszej firmie postanowiliśmy ostatnio sprawdzić co to jest ten Windows o którym wszyscy ciągle gadają.
W związku z tym zakupiliśmy niewielką ilość kopii tego produktu.
Jako system operacyjny okazał się średni, więc wyeksportowaliśmy go do pewnego dalekiego kraju.
W międzyczasie jednak znaleźliśmy dla niego kilka ciekawych zastosowań, w których sprawdza się całkiem nieźle.
windows - wąż vel domino
Windows - domino w zbliżeniu
Windows - wieża
PS. Wąż (c) hiena. Wieża - autor nieznany.
skrypty powłoki w Windows
Ciekawostka dla administratorów systemów z serii win2k/xp/itd itp.
Mamy sobie jakiegoś batcha:
C:\Temp>more test.cmd
@echo off
echo before sleep
c:\cygwin\bin\sleep 60
echo after sleep
I sobie go uruchamiamy.
C:\Temp>test.cmd
before sleep
Otwieramy drugi terminal, a w nim
C:\Temp>echo echo this was added after script was started >> test.cmd
Wracamy do pierwszego okienka i czekamy cierpliwie.
C:\Temp>test.cmd
before sleep
after sleep
this was added after script was started
życie jest pełne niespodzianek.
aha. jako ćwiczenie dla chętnych zostawiam sprawdzenie co się stanie, jesli zamiast dopisywać na koniec, dopiszemy np. 10 pustych linijek w środku skryptu :)