Data Security on Windows Vista

Are you worried all the time that the sensitive data on your system can be

accessed and misused in your absence? And the situation worsens in case you lose

your notebook that has the confidential data. Here is a new Windows feature,

'Secure Startup', which can be helpful to you. This feature will protect

your data in case your machine is stolen or lost. It encrypts the entire boot

drive with a key so that no unauthorized person can use the machine. With Secure

Startup, you can save the encrypted key in your pen drive or manually type the

48 digit sequence. However, if you are using the pen drive to store the key then

you have to just plug in the drive at the startup and the key will be taken

automatically to start Windows. It is good to have the password in more than one

place because in case you don't have the pen drive , the only way to start

Vista

is to put it manually. Activating the Secure Startup feature automatically

depicts the drives that can be enabled and you only need to follow the

instructions to set it up.

Displays the status of the drives which can either be securely started or have the feature enabled on it	The displayed key is not unique but is generated randomly and as well as you can store the key on your USB drive or/and take a print
The PIN or recovery key is stored on the external drive such as a pen drive for the startup	After the key is saved the encryption can be started to have this advanced security feature enabled

Anubhav Verma