Computer data is stored on disks and solid state media for availability over days, months or years. In small systems, such as a personal computer there is a CPU and one or two hard disks. When a disk fails or runs out of space another disk has to be manually added, and, the data has to be placed on that disk. In large systems, there can be hundreds of disks and digital storage systems systems, and, the complexity of managing the information increases considerably. Storage virtualization is the grouping of storage devices such that it seamlessly appears to be one large storage device.

In a simple system, whenever a program needs to access a file it makes a request to the operating system. The operating system maps this to a specific location on a disk. If a disk has, say, 10 gigabytes of capacity then the disk cannot handle data beyond that size. With storage virtualization, a request for space greater than the disk size is routed automatically behind the scenes to another disk.

Storage virtualization can be handled by hardware or software, or a combination of the two. It has a number of benefits. Data may be moved from one device to another device behind the scenes while the system is making requests, and the request is automatically routed to the new location. When a storage device has to be added or removed, this can be done without bringing down the system. This increases the availability of the system to the ultimate users.

With storage virtualization, information can be intelligently managed; for example, data that is accessed less frequently can be moved to a slower device. Utilization of storage space could be improved. Each storage device by itself may have unused space, but that unused space might be too small to be utilized for a single file that the operating system wants to place. With storage virtualization, unused space on multiple devices is automatically “accumulated” because parts of the file can be stored on separate devices.

The physical group of storage devices is seen as a single device from the operating system’s viewpoint. As a result the operating system does not have to keep track of multiple devices and how to access them. Consequently, storage devices from multiple manufacturers can be smoothly used provided they support storage virtualization. For protection against data loss, data is often replicated. Such replication is also smoothly handled.

Storage virtualization thus provides the system with the storage it needs without getting bogged down by the limitations of the individual devices. Of course, now, a significant amount of information has been virtualized. It is very important that this information is retained in a fail-proof manner, usually by storing it in multiple locations.

source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-storage-virtualization.htm

A data warehouse is a place where data is stored for archival, analysis and security purposes. Usually a data warehouse is either a single computer or many computers (servers) tied together to create one giant computer system.

Data can consist of raw data or formatted data. It can be on various types of topics including organization’s sales, salaries, operational data, summaries of data including reports, copies of data, human resource data, inventory data, external data to provide simulations and analysis, etc.

Besides being a store house for large amount of data, they must possess systems in place that make it easy to access the data and use it in day to day operations. A data warehouse is sometimes said to be a major role player in a decision support system (DSS). DSS is a technique used by organizations to come up with facts, trends or relationships that can help them make effective decisions or create effective strategies to accomplish their organizational goals.

Data Warehousing Models

There are many different models of data warehouses. Online Transaction Processing, which is a data warehouse model, is built for speed and ease of use. Another type of data warehouse model is called Online Analytical processing, which is more difficult to use and adds an extra step of analysis within the data. Usually it requires more steps which slows the process down and requires much more data in order to analyze certain queries.

In addition to this model, one of the more common data warehouse models include a data warehouse that is subject oriented, time variant, non volatile and integrated. Subject oriented means that data is linked together and is organized by relationships. Time variant means that any data that is changed in the data warehouse can be tracked. Usually all changes to data are stamped with a time-date and with a before and after value, so that you can show the changes throughout a period of time. Non volatile means that the data is never deleted or erased. This is a great way to protect your most crucial data. Because this data is retained, you can continue to use it in a later analysis. Finally, the data is integrated, which means that a data warehouse uses data that is organizational wide instead of from just one department.

Besides the term data warehouse, a term that is frequently used is a data mart. Data marts are smaller and less integrated data housings. They might be just a database on human resources records or sales data on just one division.

Types of Data Warehouses

With improvements in technology, as well as innovations in using data warehousing techniques, data warehouses have changed from Offline Operational Databases to include an Online Integrated data warehouse.

Offline Operational Data Warehouses are data warehouses where data is usually copied and pasted from real time data networks into an offline system where it can be used. It is usually the simplest and less technical type of data warehouse.

Offline Data Warehouses are data warehouses that are updated frequently, daily, weekly or monthly and that data is then stored in an integrated structure, where others can access it and perform reporting.

Real Time Data Warehouses are data warehouses where it is updated each moment with the influx of new data. For instance, a Real Time Data Warehouse might incorporate data from a Point of Sales system and is updated with each sale that is made.

Integrated Data Warehouses are data warehouses that can be used for other systems to access them for operational systems. Some Integrated Data Warehouses are used by other data warehouses, allowing them to access them to process reports, as well as look up current data.

Advantages & Disadvantages

The number one reason why you should implement a data warehouse is so that employees or end users can access the data warehouse and use the data for reports, analysis and decision making. Using the data in a warehouse can help you locate trends, focus on relationships and help you understand more about the environment that your business operates in.

Data warehouses also increase the consistency of the data and allow it to be checked over and over to determine how relevant it is. Because most data warehouses are integrated, you can pull data from many different areas of your business, for instance human resources, finance, IT, accounting, etc.

While there are plenty of reasons why you should have a data warehouse, it should be noted that there are a few negatives of having a data warehouse including the fact that it is time consuming to create and to keep operating.

You might also have a problem with current systems being incompatible with your data. It is also important to consider future equipment and software upgrades; these may also need to be compatible with you data.

Finally, security might be a huge concern, especially if your data is accessible over an open network such as the internet. You do not want your data to be viewed by your competitor or worse hacked and destroyed.

source: http://www.topbits.com/data-warehouse.html

This is one of the most important, yet also one of the most neglected areas of computing. Backing up your data should be at the top of your computer maintenance list, right next to Virus Protection. Without data backup or virus protection, you are running the risk of losing your data. And it will happen, don’t think that you don’t have to worry about it.

Why should you back up?

Data loss can happen in many ways. One of the most common causes is physical failure of the media the data is stored on. You probably have everything saved on your PCs hard drive. That hard drive will not live forever. To quote a friend of mine, “there are only two types of hard drives – the ones that have failed and the ones that will fail.” Yes, normally hard drives will live for years without incident. But eventually they will die. It might happen gradually, by more and more bad clusters accumulating until most of the drive is unusable. Or it might happen suddenly, the hard drive just dies without warning.

Another bad storage media are floppy disks. They are good for temporary storage and maybe transporting information, but not for permanent data storage. I’ve lost count of how many floppies I’ve tossed because they were bad. And I have talked to countless people who saved valuable data to a floppy only to find out when they needed to access it that the floppy was bad and the data inaccessible.

Another possible cause for data loss is power failure or spikes. It can result in loss of the document you are currently working on because you did not save it before the power failed and your PC shut down, or in loss of your entire hard drive because a power surge fried your motherboard and destroyed the file allocation table of your hard drive.

Also worth mentioning is data loss through virus attacks. There are plenty of nasty computer viruses out there that will delete files on an infected machine. That’s why Virus Protection is just as important.

What data should you back up?

You might think that you probably don’t really have anything worth backing up, nothing important, no big deal. Let’s go through just a few items to jog your memory.

Let’s start with your favorite places on the Internet and that long list of bookmarks. Do you want to lose all those? How about the e-mail addresses from all your friends? That would take a long time to accumulate those again. What about that to-do list you wrote? Or about that nice picture somebody e-mailed you and that you saved? How about that family history you collected over the years and put into a database? Maybe you have a document for work, like a presentation or a spreadsheet that you created at home and don’t have a copy on your work PC? Think about that saved game of your favorite game where it took you weeks or months to get to that level. These are just the most common examples, and I know that after thinking about it for a while you will realize that there is a lot of information you don’t want to lose. That’s why you should back up your data.

How to back up

Backing up means to keep a copy of your important files in a separate location for retrieval in case of an emergency. Keeping a copy of it in another folder on the same hard drive though is not a good idea. It means to put it on a separate media. Preferably, you have two backups on two separate types of media in two places.

The oldest and worst way to back up is to save your data to floppy. As I said before, floppies fail rather quickly and are not a reliable storage media. Bad idea. use them only for temporary storage or data transportation if there is no other way.

Another older and very popular way was to use a tape drive. They could store several Gigabytes of data. The disadvantage of tape drives are that they are slow and that the tapes are somewhat sensitive to heat, magnetism etc. which does not make them the most reliable media either.

Then a few years ago, the Zip drive from iomega came out. It became very popular overnight for several reasons. It is easy to use, just like a floppy drive. Insert a disk, copy the data, eject the disk, done. It is also very mobile if you have an external Zip drive. Just take it with you, plug it in, install the software if needed and you’re set. The Zip disks are relatively reliable (yes, there was the click of death but it supposedly affected less than 1% of all Zip drives according to iomega) and can store 100 Megabytes, that’s about 70 floppies worth. Recently iomega released a new version that can store 250 MB. However, the disks are still somewhat pricey, and a lot of times several disks are required for a complete backup.

Recently, recordable and re-writable CD burners have flooded the consumer market and offered another way of data storage. A good burner can be had for $200 – $300, the disks cost $1 for recordable and $2 – $3 for re-writable ones. The disks hold approximately 650MB of data. The advantage is that the media is pretty cheap and very reliable, but the burners cost more than a tape or Zip drive. I’ve been using a CD burner for a while now for backups and found it to be very reliable and convenient.

Another way of backing up data is to another hard drive. If you have multiple PCs at home and they are networked, you can copy data files to the hard drive of another PC on the network for backup. That way, if one PC goes down, you still have the data on the other PC. The advantage is that it is pretty quick and easy to do, but it takes away some hard drive space and it does not allow off-site storage of the backups which is a problem if your house burns down and all PCs on your home network go up in flames. I always back up my data to my laptop as well by connecting my laptop to my home network or by using Direct Cable Connection.

Recently I have seen some ads for online backup storage, where you can rent disk space online and upload your data for backup. I am still a little skeptical about this concept, because you depend on your ISP and the disk space provider to be up and running for data retrieval, if you have lots of data and only a 56k modem, upload will take quite some time, and lastly, you put all your info on a strangers machine.

Be organized

To make backing up your data easier, it helps if your data is organized. If you save all your data in the program folder of the program the data is used in, e.g. Word documents in C:\Office\Word, Excel documents in C:\Office\Excel, you will have a lot of fun hunting down all your files and making sure you didn’t forget anything when backing up. Believe me, it gets old real fast. Instead, you should make a point of saving all your documents, no matter what it is, in one central location. That’s what the My Documents folder is for. You can make subfolders called Private and Business, and subcategorize those more. This way 95% of your backup will be done by simply copying the My Documents folder. Very easy and convenient. But don’t forget, as I mentioned earlier, to also back up your bookmarks and e-mail data. If you use MS Internet Explorer, you need to back up the folder C:\Windows\Favorites which contains the bookmarks and the folder C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book for your e-mail addresses and the folder C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express for your e-mail if you use Outlook Express. If you use Netscape, you need to back up the folder C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\(your user name here), it contains all your Netscape related data.

Additional considerations

The backups described above will of course only back up the data files or documents. This means if you lose a hard drive, you need to reinstall the operating system and the programs first, then retrieve the data. If you want to save yourself the hassle of reinstalling everything, you could get a program like Ghost from Symantec or Drive Image from Powerquest or one of many others. These programs will take a snapshot of your drive and save an image of the drive as is. When you have to start over with a blank hard drive, you just restore the disk image and you’re back in business, no reinstalling of any programs necessary.

If you want the backup process to happen automatically, you can get a backup program that does the backup on a regular basis and lets you schedule full an incremental backups. This type of backup is recommended for businesses that have multiple machines.

Last, remember to back up regularly. You don’t want to have something happen to your data, then restore your backup just to realize it is 6 months old. Depending how much work you do, back up either weekly or at least monthly. It is also a good idea to store your backups off-site, e.g. in your safe deposit box in your bank or anywhere else where they can’t be harmed and won’t be lost when your house burns down or is burglarized. It’s your data, keep it safe.

source: http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/backup1.html

If there’s one reason most people don’t backup their computer data, it’s because they claim they don’t know how. However, with more and more backup software available, backing up your important computer data has never been easier or faster.

In fact, many personal computers make it even more convenient for you, by having free data backup software that is included with your operating system. With this type of software, all you need to do is select the folders on your computer that you would like to backup, and it will do it automatically at predetermined times.

On the other hand, backup software can be purchased externally. These programs generally work by automatically backing up all files changed after a certain date – or you can copy selected files to a backup folder.

Other types of data, such as emails, are not as easy to backup. The most common way to backup email data is by exporting important messages into files, which can then be backed up.

How Often Should I Backup My Data?

As a general rule, people who use their computer occasionally (5 hours/week or less) should be backing up their data on at least a weekly basis. If you use your computer more frequently, however (more than 10 hours/week), doing it daily is probably a good idea. Another variable is the type of data you store on your computer. Obviously, the important it is to you, the more important backing it up becomes.

Tips for Data Backup

* There are many ways to backup data on your computer – the least effective of which (for obvious reasons) is having the only backup location on your actual hard drive. Instead, use external hardware such as a disk, CD, zip drive, or memory stick.

* Online backup is another option. This requires the use of an Internet-based data backup storage service.

* If space on your computer is limited, be selective with the data you choose to backup. For example, you may choose to only backup personal data. As a general rule, there’s no need to backup entire programs, as in the event that they are deleted, you can simply reinstall them with original software. For this reason, it’s important to keep a copy of your operating system on hand.

All in all, computer data backup doesn’t have to be a complex and painful process. In fact, although it may seem more time consuming now, just imagine the time it will take to get all your important data back – or worse, have to start from scratch – in the event that all of it is deleted.

source: http://www.spamlaws.com/how-to-backup-data.html

Portable computers are made for traveling and computing at the same time, and are thus incredibly valuable for their weight. We’re talking ‘carton of cigarettes’ dollars-to-weight ratio here. Consequently, laptop’s make a tempting target for thieves and have been known to go AWOL with distressing frequency when compared to less expensive things like your baggage full of Hawaiian shirts.

Having a laptop stolen is a double-dose of bad news, since not only are you confronted with the fact that your (at least) $1500 portable PC is now gone, perhaps forever, but you also have to deal with the possibility of data theft. It’s sort of like losing a wallet, but a wallet cannot hold gigabytes of potentially valuable or personal data. Credit data, email records, license keys, personal documents, all at the fingertips of the kind of person who was willing to steal your laptop in the first place. For business travelers, this is especially bad news.

In this article, we will look at methods to reduce the risk. First, We will cover physical security methods that can help prevent laptop theft in the first place, then we will go step-by-step through some essential data securing techniques that can drastically reduce the chance of your data being stolen along with your laptop if the worst does happen.

Physical security: Lockdown your laptop

There are several physical methods you can use to secure your mobile device, ranging from chains and alarms to ID programs which clearly identify the computer as belonging to you. Let’s look at a few options.

Chains and alarms

Several companies, such as Targus and Kensington, manufacture devices that physically secure your laptop by locking it to a surface, sort of like a bicycle lock. Of course, these products also share the same disadvantage that bike locks do, in that a prepared thief can circumvent them rather easily.

These locks, often called Kensington locks, will discourage casual theft especially in the office environment. Companies that have large amounts of employees using laptops would do well to invest in these. Motion sensing locking devices are also available, and these add an extra layer of security by setting off a loud alarm if the cable is tampered with.

These products connect to laptops through special security ports built into the machine itself. All recent laptops should come with some sort of port for these devices, though some companies (notably Kensington) require a special branded port for their devices. Check your laptop’s configuration before purchasing one of these locking devices.

Biometric security

Biometrics is the methodology for recognizing or identifying persons based on physiological or behavioral characteristics. Essentially all security features are based on a combination of three key concepts; security can be based on something you have, something you know or something you are.

While tokens or passwords can cracked or stolen, biometric identifiers are much more difficult to reproduce. It is the task of biometric systems to apply a mathematical algorithm to the identifier (retina, or fingerprint for example) to determine if a user is a who they are pretending to be.

Some PC manufacturers now offer laptops with built in capacitive biometric fingerprint identifications systems. These authenticate users based on the similarity of their fingerprint to that of a stored fingerprint created when the software is first run.

Add-on biometric devices are also available for securing laptops that do not come equipped with these devices as stock. Use of Biometric devices can make it harder for thieves to access data on a stolen laptop, especially as many of the built-in solutions operate independently of whatever operating system you may be using; meaning the failure of correct biometric identification of the user will prevent the laptop from booting at all.

Biometric devices have a few disadvantages however. First and foremost, they are not foolproof by any means. Although most devices err on the side of caution to reduce security risks, this still can make them rather frustrating to use. Secondly, if your laptop did not come with a biometric security device built in, you will have to purchase a third-party add on that connects through the USB or PC card ports. While not generally that expensive, these must function with the operating system, and thus can be easily bypassed. They are very useful for securing data when combined with encryption software however.

Current biometric devices must be viewed as more of a password enhancement than an additional layer of security for your laptop. While built-in fingerprint identifying devices in laptops can have a security benefit, third-party devices give little benefit over simply using secure passwords and encryption to protect your property.

Manufacturers of third party biometric security systems include:

Targus ( WWW.targus.com)
DigitalPersona (http://www.digitalpersona.com/)

Laptop identification programs

If your laptop is stolen, having the foresight to register the device with the manufacturer beforehand can give you a much better chance of eventually getting it back. If you have registered your laptop, when you report it as stolen, many manufacturers will track the serial number of the device. If the laptop is subsequently brought in for repairs, a record will exist. For obvious reasons, it pays to note the serial number of your laptop down, even if you do not register it.

You can also equip your laptop with an identification tag which provides proof of ownership and acts as a deterrent to theft. The most popular of these is the STOP program. While more geared towards businesses, these programs can still help home users.

Personalize your laptop

Along the same lines as the above ID methods, personalizing your laptop can make it much more likely for you to get it back in the event of theft. Though it may pain you to do it, placing your name or other information somewhere on your laptop is a good idea. By engraving identification information into the device itself, you provide yourself with some very tangible descriptive information which you can provide to police.

Laptop tracing software

To provide an even better chance of having your laptop returned, you can purchase a laptop tracing software package. Most products of this nature work by periodically and stealthily sending out signals to an Internet server run by the manufacturer. When your laptop is stolen, report the theft to the maker of the software. If the new owner connects to the Internet, the company will know, and they will provide tracking information to the police.

Some tracking software provides further options, such as the ability to delete selected data once the laptop has been reported as stolen. Most of these software packages are difficult to detect and remove, and some claim to be able to survive re-partitioning and reformatting of the hard drive. Of course, if the hard drive is removed, so is the tracing software.

Most of these services work on a yearly subscription basis, due to the fact that the service is more essential than the software.

Popular tracking software packages include:

ZTrace ( http://www.ztrace.com/zTraceGold.asp)
Computrace ( http://www.computrace.com/public/products/computraceplus/default.asp)
Cyberangel ( http://www.sentryinc.com/ca-track.html)

Common sense and the Pizza Box

Don’t leave your laptop alone. Not in your car, not in your trunk, not in your hotel room, not anywhere while traveling. Record the serial number, along with any other identifying marks or characteristics that you can provide to police. Use a plain carrying case or backpack whenever possible, as this will dramatically reduce the risk of theft. If you travel with an ultra subnotebook, try putting it in a 8.5″ x 11″ envelope – to distant eyes it will just look like a bundle of paper.

If you’re in the habit of leaving your brand new and exceptionally shiny Titanium frame notebook around the house when you aren’t there, keep in mind that a potential thief sneaking a peek through the windows may be more inspired to break in if they see a notebook sitting out in plain view on the coffee table. While you may have paid over $2300 for that notebook, the thief will be quite happy selling it for a measly $500…. talk about adding insult to injury!

For those of you who insist on leaving your notebooks on coffee tables or out in the open anyway, there is one trick which can give your notebook a bit of stealthy protection. I can’t claim originality on the Pizza Box laptop case, but since I can’t remember where I first saw this you’ll have to improvise, and all it will cost you is a medium pizza from the local delivery guy. It’s best to order the least grease-ladden pizza you can, because once you finish your lunch you’ll be using that box for another purpose.

All you need to do once the food’s gone is clean out the crumbs, bits of pepperoni, and whatever else remains. If there are odd grease spots here and there you can get away with gluing down a piece of cardboard to line the inside of the Pizza Box. If things are messy perhaps it’s better to order the Veggie deluxe and try again. When the Pizza Box is all cleaned out, just make sure your notebook will fit inside. If it doesn’t, order a larger pizza and repeat the above steps.

The basic idea behind the Pizza Box laptop case, if you haven’t already guessed it, is to store your fancy notebook in the Pizza Box when you’re not around. This way, you can leave your notebook out on the coffee table, or pretty much anywhere in your house and no one will be the wiser that your uber expensive notebook lies inside. Sure you may look like a bit of a slob for having that same Pizza Box on your coffee table for 6 months, but then again, if people are noticing that they certainly aren’t noticing your notebook inside are they?

Protecting your data in the event of theft

Now that we’ve looked at some of the methods of recovering a stolen laptop and preventing said laptop from going walkies in the first place, let’s turn our attention to some preventative measures you can take to stop your data from being compromised if the worst does happen.

STEP 1: BIOS password protection

Most modern computers can be password protected by setting a password in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) built into the motherboard of the computer. This is a group of settings that govern how the computer manages its hardware, regardless of what operating system it may be using. Changes made to the BIOS are stored in a small area of built-in memory called the CMOS, which is powered by a battery also built into the motherboard.

Now on desktop computers, password protecting the BIOS borders on the completely futile as a security measure. Any intruder can simply open up the case and use a jumper to reset the CMOS, or even just yank out the battery powering it for a few minutes to make sure it (along with the password) is wiped. It’s a different story with a laptop however.

Laptop computers are built on proprietary designs, using motherboards created specifically for each model. It is often not possible to get at the CMOS battery of a laptop without special tools and know-how, or at least not without destroying the machine in the process. Generally speaking, if you want to reset the BIOS password on a laptop, you will need to ship it back to the manufacturer, something your average thief is going to be understandably reluctant to do.

This makes BIOS password protection a rather good option for users who are concerned about the possibility of data theft, as a BIOS password makes it impossible to boot into any operating system until it is answered. It’s not foolproof, as many manufacturers have built ‘backdoor’ keystroke combinations into their systems which can bypass even BIOS passwords, but it’s a great start.

To set the BIOS password, press the DEL key several times immediately after the POST screen comes up (some manufacturers use a different key stroke, but this should be indicated on your screen during boot-up, or in the manual) to enter the BIOS setup. You are looking for ‘set password’ or something similar. Set it (write it down so you don’t forget it) and save and exit. The next time you boot, you will be prompted for a password after POST.

Make sure you keep a record of the password – but not in your laptop bag please!

STEP 2: Set Really Good user passwords

This speaks for itself. After stealing your laptop, the intruder has all the time he or she can afford in which to crack the password for your administrator account and get full access to your data. Chances are, at some point they will use the SAM and SYSTEM file password hash extraction method (again, as covered in our password recovery article) in combination with some sort of password cracking software to discover your password.

Let’s look at what might happen… Say your password was ‘rover;’ It would take them about 5 minutes or less to crack using a fast computer. Say it’s ‘rover35′ add another 10 minutes maybe… But what if your password was (r0V3r35) You’ve just extended the time it will take them to crack your password to several hours, perhaps days.

Password Tips and Encrypt Vital Data

The more numbers, uppercase letters, symbols and digits in your password, the harder it is to discover. Microsoft themselves recommend using no less than 6-digit passwords with at least three of the following: lower case, uppercase, numbers and special characters. Make sure ALL enabled user accounts have been assigned passwords.

It’s a pain to have to memorize complicated passwords, but if you use the laptop primarily for traveling, simply jot the password down and carry it somewhere on your person (not in the laptop bag).

While you are at it, changing the ‘administrator’ account to an alternate name is also a good measure to make it harder to break in. Everyone knows that Windows XP uses an administrator account, and that it cannot be disabled, so it is the prime target for data thieves. By renaming it ‘Bob’ or something stranger still, you can add some time and frustration to your thief’s life. To do this:

Log into windows using an account that has administrative privileges (any user created during install process or the administrator account itself)

Right click on ‘my computer’ and select ‘manage.’

From the computer management window, Expand ‘local users and groups’ then open the ‘users’ folder and highlight the ‘administrator’ account. Right click and select ‘rename’ to change it.

STEP 3: Encrypt vital data

Again, if you’ve read our recent article on password recovery you’ll have realized that it is not really necessary for an intruder with physical access to the computer to actually hack the passwords of your user accounts in order to get at your data. There are a slew of utilities out there that will happily boot your computer into an alternate OS like Linux and then reset your user passwords. It is also quite simple to grab a portable operating system that boots itself from CD (such as Knoppix), or a DOS boot disk with an NTFS reader on it and then copy the information straight off your laptop’s drive. For that matter, laptop hard disks are generally easy to remove anyway.

An intruder could purchase an adaptor or a USB case and hook your laptop’s hard drive up to his or her own system and siphon off your files. So what use are Windows user passwords? Well, plenty of use when you combine them with proper encryption…

Windows XP Professional, like Win 2000 before it, features built in strong file encryption based on the identity of the user. When you use the Encrypting File System (EFS), a file is encrypted with an algorithm derived from the unique SID (System Identifier) number generated for each user account. Once the file is encrypted, it cannot be decrypted except by the original user (and anyone he chooses to grant access to the file). This means that any other user account will not be able to view the file, period.

The encryption is permanent and remains on the file even when Windows is not running. It doesn’t matter if a new account with the exact same name and password is created, only the original account with the original SID number can decrypt and read the file.

The benefits of using file encryption are obvious. The only feasible way to break it without a supercomputer is to bypass it by gaining access to the user account that did the encrypting. If you set strong passwords, as above, this is very tough to do. None of the conventional methods of getting at secured data will work on encrypted files.

Of course, encryption carries its own set of dangers. If the original user account is destroyed due to a system failure or user error, you too will lose all access to the encrypted data. It is possible (and highly recommended) to create a ‘recovery agent’ which provides a secondary account with the ability to recover the data. This can be created as a digital certificate which can be exported to a floppy disk, then applied to a user account when needed.

Step 4: Do not leave unique data on your laptop

It might seem like common sense, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind, believe me. If you are using your laptop for business, everything important should be backed up before you leave home. Likewise, when creating documents while traveling, burn them to CD or copy them to floppy as soon as possible, then carry that disk in separate luggage.

The bottom line is this, any time you travel with your notebook, whether it’s an international flight or just the commuter train to work, your notebook may never return. If the thought of s loosing your laptop is akin to losing your first born, it’s time to back up that data. After all, there is no better feeling than being able to write off a notebook which has just been whisked away in the back seat of a cab, dropped in a pool, or swiped from your four star hotel room and not have to worry about the sensitive data on it.

If you follow even some of the above suggestions, your laptop will be much more likely to stay with you for at least the duration of its warranty. Back up your data, use the security measures provided, and hopefully if your notebook gets lost or stolen your data will be safe at hand.

source: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1508&page=1