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Microsoft Kills Off ‘My Private Folder’ App

Microsoft quietly added the free encryption utility earlier this month, and then just as quietly deleted it. The utility allowed users to encrypt and store files inside a private folder.

When I first saw this product I thought it was a TrueCrypt me-too product without the documentation. The nice thing is that it got the blessing of Microsoft. Besides the blessing from Microsoft I could not think of a reason for me to switch from TrueCrypt to ‘My Private Folder’. In a way I am sorry to see it go. There is a serious security/identity theft issue with laptops that encrypted virtual disks/folders can reduce. Ophcrack shows how easy it is to crack operating system passwords so a pragmatic person has to assume that the operating system passwords will be compromised fairly quickly. Encrypting sensitive data without using the operating system passwords becomes a step improvement in security. Using TrueCrypt is not the perfect answer but it is better than no security.

Related posts:

• Add folder to My Places
• My 10 favorite Windows programs of all time | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-039: Vulnerability in ISA Server 2000 and Proxy Server 2.0 Could Allow Internet Content Spoofing (888258)
• Featured Windows Download: Bowl over corrupt installations with Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
• TrueCrypt 4.3

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