I’ve Got a Secret and Free Secret Disk Keeps it That Way

The days of privileged information, and personal privacy, have gone with the wind.

Private information concerning you is accumulated, bought and sold, and then manipulated for profit. If you’re like most people in developed countries – you probably don’t care. After all, you have nothing to hide; right?

In the broader sense, you are probably right; not that there’s much you could do about it, in any case. We really do live in the era of “Big Brother”.

Privacy though, can be a real issue when it comes to your computer, and the information stored on your Hard Drive. Something, I’m sure, you do not want compromised.

Most of us have information on our machines that we consider privileged information – sensitive financial data readily comes to mind. As well, many of us have additional files that we may consider sensitive and confidential. Files that we don’t want a spouse, girlfriend, a child, or others, to have ready access to.

Recently, I’ve noticed the unusually high number of child pornographers (those with child pornography on their Hard Drives), who were caught (including in my own community), following maintenance work on their computers by Technicians. Curiously, in almost every case; Technicians employed by national computer chains.

Possession of child pornography is a heinous crime, and we should use all appropriate methods to root out both its production, and possession; applying the most severe criminal sanctions for those convicted.

Having said that however, I’ve always had an aversion to computer technicians inappropriately searching through customers’ Hard Drives. Something which occurs much more often than the average user might suspect.

Hint: Don’t keep what might be considered embarrassing personal pics on your computer unless they are encrypted, or otherwise protected. You wouldn’t want that type of pic copied by someone (and they frequently are by those having unrestricted access), for their own uses – would you?

I’ve long been a strong believer in encrypting information that needs to be restricted, and there are many free encryption programs available for download, that do a great job.

Encryption though, is not the only way to restrict access to private information on a computer. Recently, I came across a neat little program that handles the privacy issue in an non-encrypted way. A way that is effective in ensuring private files remain private.

Secret Disk does one thing, and it does it very well. It creates a separate secret disk on your Hard Drive, in a non-complex way, for your “secret” files. When the disk is locked it’s invisible, and cannot be seen by other users.

Installation and setup is a snap. Following installation, simply assign a password to Secret Disk, and you’re good to go – simple, fast, and uncomplicated!

The screen capture below, shows Secret Disk as drive “X” on my Windows 7 test system.

Fast facts:

Separate disk for your private files – this tool will create a separate disk for your private files.

Access with a password – you can access Secret Disk only with a password.

Locking – when locked Secret Disk disappears and stays invisible with all contents.

One second protection – when you need protection Secret Disk disappears within one second with all content, no matter how many files you have on the disk.

Power failure – in case of power (or Windows) failure, Secret Disk will be automatically locked.

Automatic locking – Secret Disk can be automatically locked if you away from your PC (screensaver is running), or when you press the  F8 key.

No hardware – no additional hardware required. Space for secret disk will be taken from your system disk.

Recommendation: If you’re looking for a free application to protect your secret files from prying eyes, Secret Disk is definitely worth taking a look at.

Secret Disk is a particularly good application for novice, or casual computer users, who don’t have the skills to work with more complex encryption applications.

System requirements: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7

Supported languages: English, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Japanese, Finnish, German

Download at: Developer’s site (PrivacyRoot.com)

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