Data Security on Windows Vista

Are you worried all the time that the sensitive data on your
system can be accessed and misused in your absence? And the situation worsens in
case you lose your notebook that has the confidential data. 

Here is a new
Windows feature, 'Secure Startup', which can be helpful to you. This feature
will protect your data in case your machine is stolen or lost. It encrypts the
entire boot drive with a key so that no unauthorized person can use the machine. 

With Secure Startup, you can save the encrypted key in your pen drive or
manually type the 48 digit sequence. However, if you are using the pen drive to
store the key then you have to just plug in the drive at the startup and the key
will be taken automatically to start Windows. It is good to have the password in
more than one place because in case you don't have the pen drive , the only way
to start Vista is to put it manually. Activating the
Secure Startup feature automatically depicts the drives that can be enabled and
you only need to follow the instructions to set it up.

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Displays the status of the drives which can either be securely started or have the feature enabled on it	The displayed key is not unique but is generated randomly and as well as you can store the key on your USB drive or/and take a print
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The PIN or recovery key is stored on the external drive such as a pen drive for the startupÂ	After the key is saved the encryption can be started to have this advanced security feature enabled

Source: PCQuest