Simple and Safe File Encryption

Try this very simple and easy to use state-of-the-art encryption utility. Even for novice users this is the easiest and most reliable way to secure your data with strong encryption.

This product is multi-lingual, available in: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish languages. Just choose from the language list inside the program, and it will appear in the language preferred by you.

You can encrypt both standalone files and complete folders. The high level security is ensured by using the 128-bit key BlowFish algorithm.

You can build self-extracting encrypted and compressed archives and send them to others. The only thing a recipient needs to extract the encrypted files is the correct password.

You can add several files or folders to an encrypted EasyCrypto ZIP file. When you send this type of archive to someone, the recipient just needs to install EasyCrypto to extract the folders.

After you encrypt files, EasyCrypto automatically and securely wipes the originals.

You can encrypt and decrypt your files or folders from Windows Explorer integration. Simply select the files/folders you want to process, right click with your mouse and from the pop-up menu select encrypt or decrypt.

To avoid situations where you try to encrypt a file/folder already encrypted, or decrypt a file/folder which has not been encrypted, the program first checks the file/folder to check the status before processing.

Should your PC shut down or suffer power loss, your data remains intact. EasyCrypto copies the files before processing.

You can assign names for the passwords you use. For encrypting you just have to enter the assigned name rather than the password and confirmation each time. For decrypting, you will still need to enter the password.

Customize the program appearance to suit yourself, with a choice of 11 backgrounds.

Context sensitive tips are shown in the top section of the window. This will help you to use EasyCrypto in the simplest way.

In the Help menu you can get further support via the internet.

Click here to download

This program is Free for Personal use

Zone Alarm Install Guide - Updated & In-Depth

The following instructions only apply if you are installing
Zone Alarm for the very first time. These instructions are
NOT for the people who already have Zone Alarm installed on
their computers, and are upgrading to the latest version.

1. Create a New Folder on your desktop and Rename it to
Downloads. By doing this you will have one central
location for all programs that you download. When you
download any program DO NOT select ‘Run’, select ‘Save’ and
when you have saved it scan it with an anti-virus program.
I recommend the use of AVG AntiVirus which I have covered
in another post.

2. Go to the following thread
http://www.zonelabs.com/zadownload and select ‘I only want
basic ZoneAlarm protection’ and then proceed to download
ZoneAlarm. Download it into the folder named Downloads, BUT
DO NOT install it until you have followed the instructions
below.

3. Once you have downloaded your version of ZoneAlarm to
your Desktop Folder, disconnect from the Internet. If you
use Cable or DSL Modem, disconnect it and close any other
running programs apart from your basic programs to run
Windows. This includes the Windows Firewall. To find out
what Applications are running go to Task Manager
(Control+Alt+Delete). Look for Applications, make sure there
are NO Applications running. If they are, use the End Task
Button. To disable the Windows Firewall go to your Control
Panel, switch it to Classic View then double click on
Windows Firewall and then click the ‘Off’ button.

4. Go into your Control Panel, on top of the screen you
will see Tools, click on it, then another tab will show up
and click on Folder Options, in the new panel that opens
click on View. Scroll down to where it says Hidden Files
and Folders, put a dot or check-mark in the box that says,
“Show hidden files and folders”, then REMOVE the check mark
from the next two boxes that say the following,” Hide
Extensions for known file types” and “Hide protected
operating system files (Recommended)”. Drop down to bottom
of panel and click Apply. Now go to the top of the panel
and click on “Apply to All Folders”, click Yes in new
window then click OK in Folder Options panel. This way all
your folders will show the change. Close the control Panel.

5. Make sure you have completely removed any other
vendor’s firewall product you were currently using ie:
Norton, McAfee etc. Now for those of you who are installing
the Zone Alarm Security Suite or Zone Alarm Anti-Virus, the
very same applies, make sure you have completely removed
any other anti-virus product you were currently using. If
you are using AVG Anti-Virus and/or Spybot Search & Destroy
you can safely ignore them. If the program has an Uninstall
feature please use that, if not go to your Control Panel
and select Add/Remove Programs and select each item
individually and select Remove. Do NOT reboot if prompted
to.

You then need to ensure that there are no Registry keys
or Files left behind. Click on Start, then Search or Find,
and select Files. Make sure that the location box is set to
search your local hard drive (usually C or All Local
Drives. XP users: set Advanced search options to search ALL
files and folders! Type in Norton or Symantec etc. then
wait for search to complete. If any items show up simply
right click and Delete. Then double click MY COMPUTER,
double click on C (if that is your main drive) and you will
have a window of Folders open. Locate the Program Files
folder and double click to open it and you will then have a
list of all of your Program Files. Look for any folder that
has your old Firewall or Anti-Virus name on it, right click
on the folder and select Delete. Once you have done this,
click the Back button at the top locate and and double
click on the Windows folder. This will open a panel of all
of you Windows Files, scroll down to find the one named
Prefetch. Double click it to open then go to the Edit Tab
at the top and click on it, scroll down to Select All, left
click on it and all of the files will be highlighted. Then
go to File (beside Edit) click on it scroll down and select
Delete. You will get a pop-up message ‘Are you sure you
want to send these XXXX items to the Recycle Bin’. Click
Yes, this will remove the items out of the Prefetch Folder.
Now close the window to return to your desktop. Go to your
Recycle Bin, right click and select Empty Recycle Bin.

Now, I will try to explain to you how to find any stray
Registry Keys in your Registry. First of all backup your
Registry. Go to Start, Run and type in regedit click on OK
and the Registry Editor will then open. Go to the top Tabs
and click on File, scroll down until you see Export, left
click it and this will open Export Registry File window.
Save this file to your desktop and in the File Name box
enter Registry Backup File. Click on Save and it should now
be on your desktop. Verify the file is a good copy, in the
Registry Editor window click on File, select Import, in new
panel where it says ‘Look in’ select desktop and then click
on your saved file then click ‘Open’. Once it says it has
been read in successfully, you have a good backup.

Now to edit the Registry go to the Edit Tab at the top
left click it, scroll down until you see Find, left click
it, another panel will pop up, it will ask you Find What,
type in Norton, Symantec, Mcafee or whatever Firewall or
Anti-Virus vendor you were using before installing
ZoneAlarm. After you have typed the name, make sure that
there are checkmarks in all of the boxes - Should be 4
blocks, Keys, Values, Data, and Match Whole String Only -
then go back to where you typed in Norton, Symantec, etc
then click on ‘Find Next’. The search will locate Folders
in the left panel and strings in the right pane. Ignore the
right pane strings and keys values, look for the
highlighted Folder in the left pane, right click on it and
select ‘Delete’, click ‘Yes’ on pop-up window then hit your
F3 keyboard button and it will continue to search the
Registry, delete any Folders it finds in the left pane and
continue until a pop-up says Finished searching through the
registry. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Now go back to your desktop to where you have
downloaded and saved your copy of ZoneAlarm and install it.

7. Let ZoneAlarm configure your Program Settings. The
reason for this is that there is a very good possibility
that when you manually install the Program Settings,
something may not get properly installed, which may cause
major problems with your installation of ZoneAlarm. Later
if you decide you do not want a specific program in your
Programs Control Panel, then remove it. If it is required,
you will get a balloon alert about it allowing or
disallowing it. That’s your decision. I have always done
this, never had a problem by letting Zone Alarm configure
my settings.

8. When the installation is complete, reboot your system
and connect back on to the Internet, making sure all your
other programs are activated this includes ZoneAlarm and
the ones that you had disabled, especially your Cable or
DSL Modems. These should all automatically restart after
rebooting.

9. Final step..go back to Start > Control Panel and if
necessary switch it to Classic View. Locate the folder
named ‘Folder Options’ and double click it. In the ‘View’
tab go to Hidden files and folders and click the radio
button ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’ and place
ticks in the following two boxes, ‘Hide extensions for
known file types’ and ‘Hide protected operating
systemfiles(Recommended)’.

For additional in-depth information click on the following
link:
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/media/pdf/zaclient70_user__
manual.pdf

I will upload a ZoneAlarm tutorial on the full
installation in a few days.
ZoneAlarm will walk you through the setup when you install
it.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will
get back to you asap.

Safe P2P File Sharing

GigaTribe (also known as TribalWeb) is a revolutionary program that lets you share entire folders with friends in a private peer to peer (P2P) environment. Share all your files (home movies, pictures, documents…) no matter how large they are.

It’s secure, encrypted…and free!

You create your private network by inviting your friends.No one can join your network unless invited. You can dismiss or ban your guests at any time. Your guests can’t see each other on your network.

EasyInstall
GigaTribe, select the folders you want to share and invite your friends to join your private network! Share all your files (movies, pictures, documents…) no matter how large they are. Interrupted exchanges automatically resume with no data loss. All files are exchanged at maximum speed.

Secure
Only the folders you want to share are visible. Only the users of your network can see your shared folders. When exchanging a file, only the sender and the receiver are aware of the exchange. All data exchanged on your network is encrypted (Blowfishencryption with a 256-bit key).

Free
All these features are included in the standard version and are totally free. GigaTribe contains no adware and can be uninstalled easily.

Pick of reviews:
PC Plus June 2007 Monthly DVD - The PC Plus Essential Collection” Harnessing the power of peer to peer, GigaTribe provides a network to exchange large files with your friends.”

Computer Shopper May 2007 DVD Edition: Expert Toolkit - MaySpecials” Create a private network over the internet to share files with friends.”

Download it HERE

About Encryption and Making Your System Secure

To What does encryption do for me?
Encryption and cryptographic software has been used in many different ways to make systems more secure.
This article discusses only a few ways that such software can make your system more secure, including:

1) Encrypting your email

2) Encrypting your files

Two programs are mentioned that will help encrypt information. There are many more programs out there that will help, but these programs are good and a good place to start as any. They have the added benefit of both being free with source code available.

Will encryption stop people from accessing my information?
Encryption simply makes it harder for people to gain access to important information, like passwords or sensitive information in a file. The first thing you should know about encryption is that the algorithm that is used to encrypt can be simple or more complex and that affects how securely what you have encrypted is protected. Encryption systems have been broken when the method of encryption is understood by hackers and is easy to break.

Why bother to encrypt my email?
It should be noted that email is far less secure than paper mail for two very good reasons: first, electronic data can be accessed easily over an Internet and secondly, electronic data is really simple to copy. There is a very good chance that someone has snooped around in your email despite your best intentions to stop it.

How do I go about encrypting my email?
There are many programs out there that can help you encrypt your email. A very popular one is PGP (Pretty GoodPrivacy) or its Gnu offshoot GPG.
PGP (http://www.pgpi.org/) self-describes itself this way: This "is a program that gives your electronic mail something that it otherwise doesn't have: Privacy. It does this by encrypting your mail so that nobody but the intended person can read it. When encrypted, the message looks like a meaningless jumble of random characters. PGP has proven itself quite capable of resisting even the most sophisticated forms of analysis aimed at reading the encrypted text."

Why bother to encrypt my files?
The answer to this boils down to what you store on your computer. If you have financial data with important information like social security numbers, email addresses, account numbers and passwords, then you open yourself up to losing very valuable information. Most corporate Internet security employees will attest to the widespread theft of very valuable information. As long as you are connected to the Internet you are vulnerable.

How do I go about encrypting my files?
AxCrypt File Encryption Software (http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/) Self-described as "FreePersonal Privacy and Security for Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP with AES-128 File Encryption, Compression and transparent Decrypt and Open in the original application."