The answer to secure portable computing

In an earlier post, I described how to take a computing environment with you using PortableApps. I noted that a disadvantage compared to U3 was that it didn't provide a way to secure the drive. Well, there's an answer for that as well.

TrueCrypt is an Open Source drive encryption solution which appears to work well. It supports a "traveler mode" which allows you to run it directly off a removable drive, rather than installing it on each computer you want to use. You create an encrypted volume on the removable drive which is just another file and TrueCrypt can mount it to whatever drive letter you wish. Since it requires Administrator privileges to run in traveler mode, and doesn't automatically prompt for elevation on Vista, I had to finagle things a bit to make it work. I created a shortcut that launches the program and set the shortcut to run with Administrator privileges and that seems to work well.

Quote of the day

Via the Patriot Post.

"Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and
public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must
be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest,
honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people,
or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty:
and this public passion must be superiour to all private passions."

-- John Adams (letter to Mercy Warren, 16 April 1776)

Reference: The Spirit of `Seventy-Six, Commager and Morris (109);
original Warren-Adams Letters, vol. 1 (221-222)