Security stuff

[btvillarin]

I wanted to make some user names for friends, my mom, etc. But, I don't want them to be able to get some of my files (documents, links, programs). These folders and files are on a separate hard drive, where I keep all of my data. Can someone enlighten me with an explanation, or perhaps some links to pages I could read?

Thanks!

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[Guest]

If the separate HDD is formatted with NTFS then the best and surest way to protect your private stuff is to encrypt it.

Just right click on the folder(s) you want to protect and select properties. Click on Advanced and check the box Encrypt contents to secure data. When you click OK another box will pop up asking to confirm attribute changes. Check the button that says Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files.

 

[btvillarin]

My other hard drive is all FAT32...that's not good, is it? Any suggestions?

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[Guest]

No that is not good if you are concerned about other people viewing your private stuff. I would convert the drive from Fat32 to NTFS. Go to Start/Run and type "convert e: /fs:ntfs /v" where "e" would be the drive letter of the drive you want to convert. It would be a good idea to back up the data on this drive beforehand.

 

[Guest]

i agree with ol buckeyefan. also, you can change the permissions of the users to restrict access to the folders you want to keep private.

ignore everything i say

 

[btvillarin]

Thanks for the input. I don't know if I'd wanna convert the whole drive to NTFS, because if it gets screwed up, I won't be able to get to it from DOS. But, maybe it's okay since I got Partition Magic. This way, I'd be able to convert back to FAT32, right? Any suggestions? (My system isn't system critical, but it's nice to have peace of mind.)

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[Guest]

well, since you have partition magic, make a small partition, format it in NTFS, put all your private files on there and then encrypt them or restrict access to only your user account.......

ignore everything i say

 

[btvillarin]

I guess I can do that. I should've thought of that in the first place. Alright then...thanks.

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[btvillarin]

I'm thinking of going back to Windows XP, but I'm stalling because the default Xerox DocuPrint M760 driver for XP doesn't include showing how much ink you have left. (That's pretty much the only reason!) Anyways, is there a reason why I should just convert my whole data drive (60GB) to NTFS? I won't go back to Win98 anymore. Plus, it's nice to be safe and secure. Any flaws with this decision?

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[Guest]

go for it. the only major reason to avoid NTFS would be in a dual boot situation where you ran 98 and 2000/xp. here, the 98 OS wouldnt be able to read the NTFS drives. using NTFS and the windows 2000/xp OS will allow you to use some of the very helpful and interesting NTFS characteristics that arent available to fat drives. go for it. theres realy nothing to worry about unless you are in a dual boot situation.

ignore everything i say

 

[btvillarin]

Alright, cool...I'll just run PM while I'm out at school, since it'll take a long time. Thanks for the advice everyone!

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[btvillarin]

That's funny. I expected it to take a long time, but it only took like 30 seconds. :lol: Oh well...off to school! (I'm running XP now.) Later...

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