Does Windows 7 Offer Decent Disk Encryption
Dec 13, 2009 | 8:12 pm
#1
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Does Windows 7 Offer Decent Disk Encryption
I'm reading all this stuff about Windows 7 and netbooks and am thinking of doing an upgrade. One thing that I am concerned about is drive encryption. If your netbook gets knicked, the price of the netbook isn't the big thing -- its is the data that is on it. I'm concerned using full drive encryption solutions with a brand new OS and was wondering what options Microsoft offers out of the box.
Dec 13, 2009 | 10:19 pm
#4
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As great a suggestion as that is, it doesn't answer the question.
To answer the OP, yes, W7 Ultimate does have this feature. An overview can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...bitlocker.aspx and there is an extensive amount written about it if you search for "BitLocker".
To answer the OP, yes, W7 Ultimate does have this feature. An overview can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...bitlocker.aspx and there is an extensive amount written about it if you search for "BitLocker".
Dec 13, 2009 | 10:27 pm
#5
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As great a suggestion as that is, it doesn't answer the question.
To answer the OP, yes, W7 Ultimate does have this feature. An overview can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...bitlocker.aspx and there is an extensive amount written about it if you search for "BitLocker".
To answer the OP, yes, W7 Ultimate does have this feature. An overview can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...bitlocker.aspx and there is an extensive amount written about it if you search for "BitLocker".
Dec 13, 2009 | 11:52 pm
#8
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BitLocker needs TPM, which will not be in any netbook that I know of. Err correction, just checked it will work now without TPM, but not tried it, not sure I want to 
Here is a nice overview of EFS:
http://www.petri.co.il/encrypting-fi...m-overview.htm
I still like Trucrypt better than anything here....
Here is a nice overview of EFS:
http://www.petri.co.il/encrypting-fi...m-overview.htm
I still like Trucrypt better than anything here....
Dec 14, 2009 | 12:00 am
#9
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...spx#BKMK_NoTPM
Looks like you can use Bitlocker w/out a TPM.
I wonder if the overhead associated with EFS, Bitlocker or some other encryption would hurt the perf of a netbook?
Looks like you can use Bitlocker w/out a TPM.
I wonder if the overhead associated with EFS, Bitlocker or some other encryption would hurt the perf of a netbook?
Dec 14, 2009 | 7:41 am
#11
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BitLocker needs TPM, which will not be in any netbook that I know of. Err correction, just checked it will work now without TPM, but not tried it, not sure I want to
Here is a nice overview of EFS:
http://www.petri.co.il/encrypting-fi...m-overview.htm
I still like Trucrypt better than anything here....
Here is a nice overview of EFS:
http://www.petri.co.il/encrypting-fi...m-overview.htm
I still like Trucrypt better than anything here....
Dec 14, 2009 | 8:26 am
#12
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Bitlocker. You have to go to Win7 Ultimate to get it.
Non MS? The free alternative is Truecrypt. Pointsec also works--I have no direct experience with any of the other WDE solutions on the Win7 platform.
The overhead in any of these will only be noticed if you run a solid state disk or during backups. The slow disks in most netbooks will bottleneck before the CPU does. On one core, my crappy netebook's Atom can encrypt about 27 meg/sec of AES. You won't need that kind of speed given the disk in the average netbook.
Non MS? The free alternative is Truecrypt. Pointsec also works--I have no direct experience with any of the other WDE solutions on the Win7 platform.
The overhead in any of these will only be noticed if you run a solid state disk or during backups. The slow disks in most netbooks will bottleneck before the CPU does. On one core, my crappy netebook's Atom can encrypt about 27 meg/sec of AES. You won't need that kind of speed given the disk in the average netbook.
Dec 14, 2009 | 9:51 am
#13
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I'm also a big supporter of using Truecrypt on net/notebooks. I always use the encrypt entire drive function which required you to enter a password at boot. One caveat is that you will need to be able to burn a recovery CD when you encrypt the disk (external USB writer required on netbooks.)
I used to work at a company which specialized in video compression and my boffin friends have examined/blessed the AES source algorithms used in the Truecrypt implementation which makes me feel a bit more comfortable than the closed source Bitlocker used in Win7 Ultimate.
I used to work at a company which specialized in video compression and my boffin friends have examined/blessed the AES source algorithms used in the Truecrypt implementation which makes me feel a bit more comfortable than the closed source Bitlocker used in Win7 Ultimate.
Dec 14, 2009 | 7:08 pm
#15
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Keep in mind that if you really want to be secure, encryption isn't a slam-dunk. Even if you get the perfect algorithm, there are still many, many ways for an industrious entity to get your stuff. You're really only protected against someone stealing your machine while it's powered off, or taking the drive out. If the machine is booted the system can be compromised. You're still subject to spyware, keystoke loggers, etc.