Encryption - password

[Xylophone]

I generate lots of Word documents, the contents of which are often
confidential. I have thought about encryption, but never got round to
looking into it until recently. TrueCrypt freeware appears to be one of the
best programs (as recommended by the US Government), and
seems straightforward to setup. My problem is the password. I can create
one using
a generator, or make one up myself (it has to be 20 characters long), but I
would
be terrified of losing this, particularly the one created by the generator
as
there is no way I would remember it, at least with my own I have a chance of
doing so. There seems little point in keeping the password on my PC, so I
guess keeping it off the PC is the way to go. I am concerned I might forget
then where I put it. What do you do to create and protect your passwords?

 

[Anup]

Often, when we get a password which is autogenerated, those are very
complicated. Check whether you are getting any option to change application
generated password. BUT, make sure when you change password, you do not
forget it because Microsoft does not provide any support for breaking
passwords or opening password protected documents.

Check following KB article for more details:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/189126/en-us

 

[Twayne]

I generate lots of Word documents, the contents of which are often

confidential. I have thought about encryption, but never got round to
looking into it until recently. TrueCrypt freeware appears to be one
of the best programs (as recommended by the US Government), and
seems straightforward to setup. My problem is the password. I can
create one using
a generator, or make one up myself (it has to be 20 characters long),
but I would
be terrified of losing this, particularly the one created by the
generator as
there is no way I would remember it, at least with my own I have a
chance of doing so. There seems little point in keeping the password
on my PC, so I guess keeping it off the PC is the way to go. I am
concerned I might forget then where I put it. What do you do to
create and protect your passwords?

Why bother with 3rd party crap when you can use XP's native encryption?
Allyou need is a user account only you can access, and to make a "keys"
CD when you encrypt the contents to use in case your disk crashes or you
have to move the files to another hard drive/computer. Windows
encryption is very strong.
Everytime you add another 3rd party app you add another place for
things to get screwed up on the machine.