Protecting Your Data

Q. My computer contains sensitive material, and I need to protect it. What’s the best way?

A. Without doubt, the most secure way is to remove the hard drive when not in use. But that’s not very convenient. You can password-protect the files, but a tech-savvy person can get past that. There are some very powerful encryption software products on the market that are nearly impossible to get through. But be careful—if you forget the password, you may never get into the files. Two well-designed privacy programs are McAfee PGP Personal Privacy ( www.mcafee.com ) and WinMagic’s SecureDoc ( www.winmagic.com ).