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Microsoft Retracts Private Folder Option
An anonymous reader writes "Just recently, an update to Windows added the option to password-encrypt a personal folder. The intent was to allow users who share PCs to have a measure of privacy, but C|Net reports the company is now removing that functionality with a patch. IT managers hit the roof when the option was added, complaining of the possibility of lost passwords and inaccessible data." From the article: "'Oh great, have they even thought about the impact this could have on enterprises. I'm already trying to frantically find information on this product so that A) I can block to all our desktops and B) figure out how we then support it when users inevitably lose files. I can see the benefit in this product for home users, but it's a bit of a sloppy release by Microsoft,' Stuart Graham said in a posting on Windows Server-related site MSBlog."
Oh great, they retracted the article too!
But more seriously... you can still download it here: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Microsoft_Pri vate_Folder/1152200243/1 (redirects to download.microsoft.com) all that was removed was the HTML download page.
On a related note, are the legions of ZIP tool companies going to retract ZIP encryption or password protection? Other archive format encryption schemes? How about general encryption programs? Oh f***, I wrote a DES implementation once, I'm screwed now aren't I?
TrueCrypt is your friend. It's open source, it mounts as a drive and you can even have hidden volumes (so you can deny having stored porn when your gf tells you to show her). It's great.
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