Q: When I travel I take paper copies of important phone numbers, email addresses, passwords, documents, etc. I'd like to carry that information on something like a flash drive but the information would have to be strictly protected from prying eyes in case of theft or loss. What do you recommend?
Don Edmonds
A: The government uses a form of encryption called AES for classified documents. It's a very strong method of encryption. As long as the potential hacker doesn't have the password required to remove the encryption, your information should be safe. Let me list some links that should help:
For a basic understanding of how AES works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
Here’s a free product that will encrypt and decrypt using AES: http://www.aescrypt.com/
Here’s where you can download it: http://www.aescrypt.com/download.html
Finally, this is a commercial – for-pay – program that also uses AES to encrypt and decrypt: http://www.safebit.net/
Q: I have been using a program called “Simple Money” for over 10 years. The program comes on two floppy disks. Can I copy those disks to a CD and then use the CD to install the program on my main computer? That computer doesn't have a floppy drive but I can use a computer that does to make the copy to the CD.
Hank Morris
A: I hate to say this but I suspect you'd spend a lot of time for nothing. There are so many ways to go wrong. Even if you do get the program to install, it may not work on a modern computer with the latest version of Windows. But, if it's something you want to try, here's how to go about it. First copy the installation disks to two separate folders on your CD.
Then you'll need to edit the installation program so that it knows to install from the CD drive, not the floppy drive. The installation program probably uses batch files for these instructions. The file extension for batch files is BAT. So, as an example, you may find a file called install.bat. You can open the batch file with a text editor like Notepad – it comes as part of Windows. At the least you'll need to change references to the A: drive (the floppy drive) to the drive for you CD and the folders within it where the installation programs are located. There may be other editing you'll need to do, the only way to know is to examine the batch files.
It would be smarter to use an old computer -- complete with floppy drive and an operating system from that time -- to install and run the program.
Q: What are your thoughts about offsite storage companies such as Mozy or Carbonite? Which is best? Are they worthwhile?
John Hopkins
A: I'm an enormous fan of offsite storage. By storing your back-ups offsite you avoid the risk of them being destroyed if fire or other disaster hits your home. The only hitch I've experienced is that the first complete back-up can take a long time. Remember that upload speeds -- whether you use DSL or cable -- are much slower than download speeds. But once that first back-up is made, the program only needs to copy new files or those that have been updated. Once you reach that point, the process is seamless. As far as the two companies, both are good. I use Carbonite myself but I wouldn't worry about using either one.
About the Author
