How to encrypt a file or folder on a PC or USB memory stick using TrueCrypt software

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Aaron
TrueCrypt software allows you to securely protect sensitive data on your PC or removable storage devices using powerful encryption algorithms.

In my previous posts I have shown you how to install TrueCrypt, How to encrypt an entire USB memory stick and how to use the USB memory stick once it has been encrypted.

 TrueCrypt box logo

Today I am going to demonstrate how to encrypt a single file or folder on your PC or USB memory stick by creating a TrueCrypt volume.

HOW TO ENCRYPT FILES AND FOLDERS USING TRUECRYPT ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE

In my example I will be creating a TrueCrypt volume on a USB memory stick that will hold files and folders. Once the memory stick is removed from the PC, the truecrypt volume file will be visible but the contents i.e. your files and folders will be inaccessible unless you know the password. So here is how it’s done…

Step 1 – Insert your memory stick. For this tutorial I used a 1 GB USB memory stick called ‘Aaron USB’.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 2 – Open the TrueCrypt software. Go to Start > programs> TrueCrypt> TrueCrypt.

TrueCrypt run window

Click ‘Create volume’

Step 3 – Create file container

TrueCrypt run window

With ‘Create an encrypted file container’ selected, Click ‘Next’.

Step 4 – Choose volume type

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 5 – Choose volume location

TrueCrypt screenshot

Choose ‘Select Device’.

Browse to the USB pen drive (or file location on your PC) where the encrypted volume will reside. Add a filename for your volume. I have chosen to use ‘My TrueCrypt volume’.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click save.

TrueCrypt screenshot

You will now see the path in the ‘Volume location window’. Click Next.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Select your encryption option. Click Next.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Choose the size of your volume. As I am placing the encrypted volume on a 1 GB memory stick so I have chosen to make the size of the volume 800 MB.

Step 6 – Choose and confirm your password

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click Next. If your password is not particularly strong you will receive the following warning :

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click ‘Yes’

Step 7 – Begin format process.

TrueCrypt screenshot

 Click the ‘Format’ button to begin encrypting your USB memory stick volume.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 8 – Exit the Wizard

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click Exit

The volume on your USB memory stick has been created.

ACCESSING THE VOLUME

Step 1 – Open the TrueCrypt software. Go to Start > programs> TrueCrypt> TrueCrypt.

TrueCrypt run window

Step 2 – Browse to TrueCrypt volume location.

‘Select file’ and browse to your TrueCrypt volume on your PC or USB memory stick.

TrueCrypt run window

Click open.

TrueCrypt run window

Select one of the free drive letters from the top half of the Truecrypt window and Click ‘Mount’.

Step 3 – Enter password

TrueCrypt run window

Enter your password and Click OK.

TrueCrypt run window

You will see from the top section of the TrueCrypt window that your volume has been mounted and is ready to use.

Step 4 – Navigate to your list of drives. In Windows XP this will be ‘My computer’ and for Vista/Win7 it will be ‘Computer’.

The ‘Local Disk (K:)’  icon will now appear.

TrueCrypt screenshotDouble click the icon and you will be able to access all of your files.

Step 5 – Encrypt drive after use

To Encrypt/Lock the USB drive once you are finished. Go back to the TrueCrypt interface and select ‘Dismount’

TrueCrypt screenshot

 

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How to use a USB memory stick/pen drive encrypted by TrueCrypt

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Aaron
In previous posts I demonstrated ‘How to install TrueCrypt‘, How to encrypt a USB memory stick using TrueCrypt and today I’m going to further the series by showing you How to use a USB memory stick which has been encrypted using TrueCrypt software. TrueCrypt USB icon

Let’s assume TrueCrypt has been installed, You have completed the encryption process and you now want to use the drive. In my example I have a 1 GB memory stick called ‘Aaron USB’ which shows up in My Computer as ‘Aaron USB (F:)’.  When you click on an TrueCrypt encrypted drive in Windows you will get the following message.

TrueCrypt screenshot

When you receive this you will need to click ‘No’ to cancel the warning as you will access your encrypted drive via the TrueCrypt software.

Step 1 - Open the TrueCrypt Software. Go to Start > programs> TrueCrypt> TrueCrypt and click the ‘Select Device’ button.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 2 – Select the USB memory stick. In my example it is showing as drive F.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 3 – Highlight a drive letter. Select one of the free drive letters from the list. This where TrueCrypt will mount your drive so you can access your files.

Click ‘Mount’

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 4 – Enter password. This is the password you would have created when you were going through the encryption process. See encryption process here.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click OK and you will see that the USB memory stick appears in the main TrueCrypt window.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 5 – Navigate to your list of drives. In Windows XP this will be ‘My computer’ and for Vista/Win7 it will be ‘Computer’.

The ‘Local Disk (K:)’  icon will now appear.

TrueCrypt screenshotDouble click the icon and you will be able to access all of your files.

To Encrypt/Lock the USB drive once you are finished. Go back to the TrueCrypt interface and select ‘Dismount’

TrueCrypt screenshot

Your files will now be protected again.

Posted in Security, TrueCrypt | Leave a comment

How to encrypt a USB pen drive/memory stick using TrueCrypt software

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Aaron
TrueCrypt encryption software is an easy and secure way to protect data stored on PC hard disks and removable storage devices.In my last blog post I showed you ‘How to install TrueCrypt‘  on your PC so now we will look at how you can encrypt your entire USB memory stick/Pen drive. TrueCrypt USB icon

Step By Step guide to encrypting a USB memory stick using Truecrypt

Step 1 – Insert your memory stick. For this tutorial I used a 1 GB USB memory stick called ‘Aaron USB’. After navigating to ‘My computer’ it was shown as follows :

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 2 – Open the TrueCrypt software. Go to Start > programs> TrueCrypt> TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click on ‘Create Volume’

Step 3 – Select a Partition or Device.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Use the Drive letter and/or Label to select the correct device and click OK.

Step 4 – Select encryption type.

TrueCrypt screenshot

As we will be encrypting the entire memory stick you will need to select the second option (as shown above).

Step 5 – Choose volume type

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 6 – Select Device

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 7 – Select your USB memory stick from the list

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click OK

Step 8 – Read warning and confirm. You will receive a warning telling you that you will lose all existing information on the memory stick you are about to encrypt. If you haven’t done so already copy files from the memory stick to temporary location and then Click Yes on message below.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 9 – Confirm device to be encrypted. Click Next

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 10 – Click Next

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 11 – Click Next

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 12 – Click Next

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 13 – Choose and confirm your password

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click Next. If your password is not particularly strong you will receive the following warning :

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 14 – Begin format process. Choose format button to begin encrypting your USB memory stick.

TrueCrypt screenshot

After clicking ‘Format’ you will receive a further warning.

TrueCrypt screenshot

Click Yes and you will see the progress of the encryption/formatting in the wizard (See below).

TrueCrypt screenshot

TrueCrypt screenshot

TrueCrypt screenshot

Step 15 – Exit the Wizard

TrueCrypt screenshot

The USB memory stick has now been encrypted.

To see how to access and use your encrypted memory stick, go to How to use a memory stick that has been encrypted with TrueCrypt.

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Step by Step guide to installing TrueCrypt encryption software on your PC

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Aaron
TrueCrypt encryption software allows you to protect sensitive information on your computer, USB pen drive or removable hard disks.It is easy to use and it’s powerful encryption system means your data is secure at all times.Use it to protect your photos, movies or business information that you would want inaccessible if it fell into the wrong hands. True Crypt safe

How to install TrueCrypt on your PC step by step

1. Download the TrueCrypt software to your PC from http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads

2. Locate the .exe file on your PC and double click.

TrueCrypt installation

Click Run

TrueCrypt installation

Click Next

TrueCrypt installation

Click Next

TrueCrypt installation

Click Next

TrueCrypt installation

Click Install

TrueCrypt installation

Click OK

You now have TrueCrypt installed on your system. To find out how to use TrueCrypt search this blog or click the related links below.

 

 

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Repairing network adapter problem – Clearing NetBT cannot be completed

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Aaron

If you lose your connection to your business network or your home broadband you are likely to try and resolve it by repairing your network adapter. This normally solves alot of connectivity problems but if you are reading this chances are you have tried it and you are receiving the following message :

“Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed : Clearing NetBT, For assistance, contact the person who manages your network.”

Problem clearing NetBT

This message may be produced by different faults, so it will be a case of trying a few fixes until you find the one that works. I posted the fixes below on a technical blog  I was writing for at the time and the feedback confirmed that they resolved most issues.

Hopefully, they will work for you too.

Solution 1 :  Check the PC for any Viruses or Malware. 

This kind of network problem can be caused by malicious software that has infected the computer and made changes to important registry settings. Therefore, the first step is to run full scans with your Anti-virus and Anti-Malware software
Once you are confident that the PC is clear of malicious software move onto the next step.

Solution 2 : TCP/IP stack repair method

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt.
Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog
Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset [log_file_name – this can be any name]
Note: the log_file_name needs to be specified, e.g. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Solution 3 : WinSock XP Fix

This is a free software utility that has been created to fix this type of problem.
Official description – “WinSock XP Fix offers a last resort if your Internet connectivity has been corrupted due to invalid or removed registry entries. It can often cure the problem of lost connections after the removal of Adware components or improper uninstall of firewall applications or other tools that modify the XP network and Winsock settings.”
Download it here

Solution 4 : Uninstall and re-install the network drivers

· Make sure you know what network adapter you have on the PC or laptop and have the driver disk handy. If you do not have a driver disk then download the driver from the internet on a different machine and place it on USB drive to transfer to the problem PC.
· Right click My computer, Properties, Hardware tab, Device Manager
· Find network adapters on the list, expand it out to show your current adapter
· Right click the adapter select ‘Uninstall’ and confirm.
· It should now show as a problem item in your Device Manager list
· Go to the file you have on your disk or USB pen drive and re-install the network driver.

Posted in Computing | 1 Comment

How to turn your Android phone into a WiFi hotspot

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Aaron
Turning your mobile phone into a WiFi hotspot is extremely easy with the Android operating system.

However, I appreciate this may sound quite complicated for the uninitiated. So for those that are unsure what this means let me run you through a couple of scenarios.

 Android

Scenarios

1. You’re working on your laptop when the broadband connection goes down in your house. You have the ability to browse the net on your phone but your laptop has been rendered useless as your broadband router is no longer providing the internet. What do you do ?.

2. You are out with a friend or colleague and you both want the ability to look for things online. You are fine because you have your phone but they only have the ability to use WiFi on their device and you are nowhere near a hotspot. What do you do ?.

That’s right. You turn your Android mobile phone into a hotspot and allow devices to connect it and benefit from your data connection.

So how do I do it ?

1. On your mobile phone go to Settings > Wireless & Networks >Portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings.

Mobile WiFi hotspot

2. You will see the above image on the next screen. Click OK

3 .  The configuration screen will now show these options.

Router name : This can be any name of your choice.
Security : None, WEP (128), WPA (TKIP) & WPA2 (AES). Choose at least WPA.
Password (8-63 ASCII Characters) :  Choose a password of at least 8 characters. The more complex the better.

4. Put a tick in the ‘Portable WiFi hotspot – Press to turn on’ option at the top of the screen or go to ‘Settings > Wireless & Networks >Portable Wi-Fi hotspot’.

5. Your WiFi hotspot is now available.

6. On another device, scan for wireless networks and select your newly created access point (Which will be the router name you created in Step 3).

7. Enter the password and you will be able to browse the net via your phone’s data plan.

 

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Remove comments box from WordPress page

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Aaron

Creating a page is normally the first thing you will do after installing WordPress on your web server.

However, once you have created the page you will notice that it includes a ‘Leave a reply’ box for your website visitors. Although, you would want this feature for a blog post you wouldn’t necessarily want this option on a Bio or contact page.

So here is how you remove it.

Test page with comments box

Remove comment box from a WordPress page

1. Go to your wordpress Admin Dashboard and go to pages > All pages

2. Find the page you want to edit. In my example I have called it ‘Test page’.

Quick Edit

3. Highlight it and select the ‘Quick Edit option’. See above

Quick Edit screen

4. Untick the ‘Allow comments‘ box.

5. Navigate back to your page and you will see the ‘Leave a reply’ box is no longer showing.

Test page no comments

 

 

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How to diagnose a motherboard problem or failure on a server

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Aaron

Diagnosing server problems can be tricky especially if the server is not producing any logs or errors to indicate the cause.

I recently worked on a HP DL380 which suddenly decided to reboot itself in the middle of the working day. It was a fairly important server so the troubleshooting process got under way fairly quickly !.

Hp proliant

The server demonstrated the following behaviour :

- Server would keep rebooting constantly
- Server would boot into Windows, run for a random amount of time and then reboot itself
- HP Smart Start disk would not run when the disk was loaded into the server
- Event logs would show the reboot but no details regarding the fault
- Server would ‘lock up’  in Windows and would need to be restarted with the power button
- Fix boot commands could not be executed

Troubleshooting

After a while the server would not boot into Windows at all which pointed toward the hardware being the problem.

The first step was to ‘re-seat’ all of the hardware components in the server and try to boot. This failed so the disks were re-seated/replaced and the memory modules were swapped out and added one by one. The final checks were the power supplies but these were fully operational so the problem had to be the main board.

This was proven to be true when the main board was replaced, given a BIOS update and the server worked as if nothing  had happened.

Posted in Computing | 1 Comment

How to remove “Please excuse my brevity” from the Android App K9 mail signature

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Aaron
K9 mail is one of the many email management applications available for Android devices.

It is a great application that does the job well but it does have a slight issue when it comes to the default signature setting.

 K9 Mail

If you install the application, add an email account and send an email, K9 mail will automatically place an email signature (or footer) on your email which says :

“Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.”

You may want to customise your signature or just remove the “Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity” text. So here is how you do it…..

Remove or customise the K9 Mail signature

1. Open the K9 application on your Android device.
2. Choose an account and go to Settings >Account Settings > Sending mail > Composition defaults.
3. You will see ”Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.” in the ‘Signature’ box.
4. Untick the signature box to remove all the text or edit the signature with your own text.

 

 

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Symantec Endpoint Protection client fails to update across DMZ

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Aaron
A company recently contacted me reporting problems with their Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) software. Symantec

They had two DMZs (Demilitarised Zones) in their network namely Internal and Public and they wanted to protect all computers and servers within these zones.

Despite a succesful installation of the Symantec client software on the webserver in the Public DMZ, they were unable to get the client to update it’s policies from the server software contained in the Internal network. I was able to verify this by going to :

1.Symantec Icon in the system tray>Right click>Open Symantec Endpoint Protection
2. Help and Support>Troubleshooting>Management Tab

In the General Information section the ‘Server’ item was showing as ‘Offline’ instead of a machine name or IP address.

It seemed clear from the above that there was a lack of communication between the client and server software which was likely to be caused by the DMZs, or more specifically the firewall rules which govern the DMZs.

Port 8014

On further investigation I discovered that Symantec uses ‘TCP 8014′ to communicate for policy updates and this was locked down on the firewall. Therefore, to resolve the issue all you need to do is allow this in your firewall rule and do the following :

1.Symantec Icon in the system tray>Right click>Open Symantec Endpoint Protection
2. Help and Support>Troubleshooting>Management Tab
3. Under the ‘Policy Profile’ section click on ‘Update.
4. The ‘Server’ item will now change from ‘Offline’ to the machine name of the SEP server or IP address.

After 10-15 minutes the client software will update itself. Symantec tray icon

 

 

 

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