January 12, 2009 at 10:55 am
If the Netbook runs XP or higher, PGP Disk ought to work fine if you want to encrypt the drive. I haven't found a satisfactory netbook that runs Vista/Bitlocker yet.
I have a small 2# HP tablet for reading on the plane, financial stuff, etc, but it's battery life is < 3 hours in power saver mode... but that's waaay better than the 30 minutes I get for its sibling 17" monster gaming notebook.
Will be looking for a netbook/tablet in the early crop of Win7 machines, though, so I can pass the current tablet on to one of the kids. Preferably something with solid state drives and a shiny new organic LCD that uses less juice.
January 12, 2009 at 11:06 am
GilaMonster (1/12/2009)
mhaskins (1/12/2009)
I wouldn't be leaving my laptop in the car when I go to get a coffee - not even locked in the trunk. Not only that, I would insist on a security cable at work so that I can lock my laptop to my desk.Doesn't always help. Mine was stolen off my dining room table last week.
ooooo nasty. I'm sorry that happened to you. That is much more than a data loss. 🙁
Mia
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January 12, 2009 at 11:15 am
As far as security goes, it can't get much worse than the laptop I took on my vacation last month. The carry-case had a sheet of paper on it with the login and password to use to get into the VPN and domain and all that. I was told to keep the piece of paper in the case, with the laptop, so that the next user wouldn't have to print a new piece of paper or some such.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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January 12, 2009 at 11:17 am
GilaMonster (1/12/2009)
mhaskins (1/12/2009)
I wouldn't be leaving my laptop in the car when I go to get a coffee - not even locked in the trunk. Not only that, I would insist on a security cable at work so that I can lock my laptop to my desk.Doesn't always help. Mine was stolen off my dining room table last week.
That's horrible. I hope you didn't lose anything too personally valuable (on the assumption that whomever took that probably took other stuff as well).
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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January 12, 2009 at 11:34 am
And I just got an email from a neighbor that there have been thefts in the neighborhood.
Yikes!
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January 12, 2009 at 11:37 am
There was a burglary in the apartment complex where I live, about 1 week before I was going out of town for a week. So, while out of town, I locked up all my valuables in a U-Haul storage space. Fortunately, this was unnecessary (no break-in), but I sure felt a bit more comfortable.
That, however, wouldn't help if it were a during-the-day-while-at-work situation. Hopefully, my dogs would help with that, but there's no guarantee on that one.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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January 12, 2009 at 12:22 pm
mhaskins (1/12/2009)
Maybe the security answer is not in the laptop. If I had to sign an agreement that I was personally liable for any data loss that occurs with my laptop. I would probably be keeping a closer eye on it. I could not afford to get sued. .
Sounds like a good recipe to get people to avoid any company laptops at all. There must be reasonable rules that you can follow to protect yourself (use provided encryption etc) or else the job us not worth the risk. (If you drive a truck, the company provides insurance)
I wouldn't be leaving my laptop in the car when I go to get a coffee - not even locked in the trunk. Not only that, I would insist on a security cable at work so that I can lock my laptop to my desk.
It makes you a slave to your laptop, and can also make you more vulnerable to the grab and run, or even armed robbery (coffee shops are hot targets). We have advanced past the point where defending your data involves a computer shackled to your wrist, encryption, as well as keeping critical data accessible by vpn are much more sensible solutions. The laptop should simply be a commodity.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
January 12, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I purchased an Acer Aspire One in November. It has 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, and XP. I store all of my critical data on an external USB drive that is password protected. The program that protects the external drive is LockNGo. I'm not sure if it's super safe but it gives me a warm fuzzy 🙂
We use that program at work to secure thumb drives.
I'm able to run SQL Server 2005 Express and the free version of VS.NET. The speed is a touch slow but not too bad.
We use Citrix to log in remotely for work. The Acer runs that just fine.
I can see where this unit could be lost or stolen very easily. It weighs next to nothing. I doubt that I would even notice if someone took it from the bag. :unsure:
I doubt it would run Vista or Office 2007 very well. OpenOffice runs well on it and it's a breeze for web surfing.
January 13, 2009 at 8:55 am
It's good to know it runs Express, and thanks for your note. I might check one of these out as a good machine to carry around on a regular basis.
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January 13, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Steve Jones - Editor (1/12/2009)
XP supports encryption, but it's a CPU cycle issue from what I've read. I haven't tried one, but perhaps enough complaining will get my boss to buy one 🙂 for testing, of course.I was skeptical myself, but then again, security software marches forward like all others. The XP versions might not be supported or they might not run well on these lower powered machines.
Linux probably gets more secure with less power, and that software isn't end-of-lifed, but how many of you would get your IT department to run it? Or you'd run your software?
I considered it. Not much of I do really requires Windows. SQL, but for traveling when I'm writing, Linux works fine.
I'd say its more of a problem asking IT depts to give you a netbook in the first place.... they're relatively non-standard items. But Linux pretty much runs itself these days, so there isn't much maintenance required.
January 14, 2009 at 6:45 am
Truecrypt is a useful, lightweight decrypt on the fly product.
You can create encrypted virtual drives (choice of algorithms) leaving stuff that does not need encryption (exe's, misc mundane stuff) on the unencrypted drive.
Has a good reputation.
Interesting feature allows creation of a hidden drive within an encrypted drive. Even given the key to the 'outer' drive, there is no way to tell that the internal (different key) even exists.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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