allanc said:
One of my clients has some very sensitive data on his notebook which
is running XP PRO sp2.
He has used a strong Administrator's password and has disabled the
Guest account.
He does not plan to access the Internet or use Email.
Basically, the notebook is for Word and Excel.
Can files be copied in DOS or SAFE mode?
Can Spyware programs be installed?
TIA.
First of all, your friend would need to disable the ability to boot
from floppy (assuming it has one) or CD. If he doesn't, then a person
could put in a boot disk that will reset the WindowsNT (including
WindowsXP) administrator password. Note the boot disk is freeware and
the ISO for it can be downloaded from the Internet.
Second, he would need to run a lock program from within Windows that
locks out access to the floppy and CD. The one I use requires a
password before either type of drive can be used.
Next he needs to use a good encryption system TrueCrypt is my current
favorite. with it you can create encrypted containers that allow for
file access in real-time rather than decrypt/use/encrypt.
Lastly, if he uses things like a pagefile, temp files (note that quite
a few document prrocessing programs automatically use temp files), or
caches or clipboard enhancer. they should be pointed at a separate
encrypted container. He should be extremely careful about the pagefile
when were with confidential data . . . you be surprised at what can be
extracted from a pagefile these days.
--
Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T
CSD Computer Services
Web site:
http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)