Halloween '08

This year at work we dressed up as the guys from the Alltel commercials. We won first place!

(click to enlarge)

Guide to TrueCrypt Portable

If you read my last post on keeping your digital secrets, I hope you like this one. I'll show you how to totally encrypt and password-protect your USB drive (for Windows).

1. Backup all of the files on your USB drive to your computer. We'll put them back, but inside of our encrypted container.
2. Do a quick format by opening My Computer, right-clicking your drive, then Format. Check the Quick Format box and then the Start button beneath.
3. Download TrueCrypt and run the executable.
4. Instead of choosing Install, select Extract. This will give us the files we need without needing to uninstall when we're done.
5. Move the folder that was created to your now blank USB drive.
6. Run TrueCrypt.exe (inside of that folder), then click the Create Volume button.
7. Select Create a Volume Container and click Next twice.
8. Click Select File and name your encrypted container. I named mine "EncryptedVolume". Then click Next twice.
9. Choose the size of your container. I'd recommend about 75% of your total drive. Click Next.
10. Enter your chosen password twice and hit Next. You may be shown a message that your password isn't strong enough. Click Yes to proceed anyway or make a stronger password.
11. Move your mouse around a little to make things random and click Format.
12. Once done, hit OK and Exit.

Here's the neat part. If you'd like to make the password prompt come up right after you plug in your drive, you can follow the below steps:

1. Open My Computer and open your USB drive.
2. Create a file called "autorun.inf".
3. Open that file and paste the following:
   [autorun]
   label=TrueCrypt Traveler Disk
   icon=TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe
   action=Start TrueCrypt
   open=TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe /q background /v "Truecrypt\EncryptedVolume" /e
4. If you renamed the folder on your drive, replace the "TrueCrypt" folder names in the icon and action lines. Where you see "EncryptedVolume", replace it with what you called your container.
5. Save the file, close everything out, and eject your drive.

Now, when you plug in your USB drive, just hit the Enter key (or the OK button). Type in your password, and your encrypted container will open as a drive in a new window. Feel free to move all your files that were originally on your drive back to this new one.

To disconnect your drive, right-click the TrueCrypt icon, and choose Dismount.