AHA. I use a PGP product (see
description) for this. Instead of encrypting the whole HD (wasteful in time and makes recovery more difficult), I encrypt files that I what to keep away from prying eyes and to ensure that I am the only one modifying them.
When on XP/Pro, I found
FileAssurity and learned to love it. After migrating to Win/7 the product was not as well integrated as it was in XP, but still very useable.
Caveat: Some people will not like the work flow a PGP system requires.
First, the sensitive file(s) must be first-time encrypted (and once you get acclimated) then the original file(s) deleted.
From there on, the work flow to open (for both read+write activities) is
- decrypt the file (foo.doc.pgp which creates foo.doc)
- double click on the decrypted version (foo.doc) to open it
- read, print or update as necessary
- close the file
If the file was not modified, then securely delete the foo.doc (the original foo.doc.pgp is still there for later)
If it was modified, the encrypt the modified version allowing the existing foo.doc.pgp to be overwritten and finally securely delete foo.doc
It looks/feels cumbersome at first, but humans are adaptable and I no longer need to think about it at all.
On my laptop, such sensitive files are now safe even if the laptop gets stolen and I sleep well at night.
Gamers hack classic Tetris on NES to run custom code without altering cartridges