Today, LapLink have announced their new PC Lock software.  This takes the task of encrypting your files and data to the next logical level and adds some interesting features.

According to research conducted by Ponemon Institute, Gartner and Intel, over 1,700 laptops are stolen every day and someone’s identity is stolen every 2 seconds. Files on a PC that are not encrypted are at constant danger of theft, increasing the user’s risk of identity theft, privacy invasion and significant financial loss.

It uses “a sophisticated EKE ‘Encrypted Key Encryption’ approach with military-grade 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)” to secure your data but in addition to the software on your PC which encrypts and decrypts files on the fly, there’s a cloud management console too.

With this unique console, users can modify preferences, change settings, reset passwords, lock the data on a missing or stolen PC and remotely delete sensitive data. The Web Management Console is accessible from any web-enabled device, including smartphones, allowing management from virtually anywhere, even if the user is on the go; no need to rely on live customer support as with other products.

This is a very interesting approach meaning that you still have control of your data, and can securely erase it, if you lose your laptop or if your PC is stolen.  You will also be able to rest safe in the knowledge that the thief won’t have had access to the data in the interim because the files aren’t unlocked by your Windows log-in.

Files and folders on a PC remain protected even if the PC is lost or stolen. Users can trigger a remote wipe of their encrypted data from the Web Management Console, preventing access of stolen files. Even if the thief pulls the hard drive from the PC and never accesses the Internet, the data remains encrypted and inaccessible. PC Lock is also compatible with other security software, so it can provide an extra layer of protection and complement existing safeguards a user may already have in place or add in the future.

The main encryption software is run from a wizard which takes you through the process of encrypting your files and configuring the PC’s data.  The encryption takes place in the background and you won’t notice any degradation in performance on a standard home or business PC, as you shouldn’t these days.

Then for those of you in business, maybe a small business where you need to protect sensitive customer and user data how about these cherries on the cake?

Behavior Monitoring
PC Lock automatically takes steps to protect your encrypted data when it senses an unauthorized user. If someone repeatedly fails to login, PC Lock detects successive failures and will automatically take steps to protect encrypted data. These steps include destroying essential elements of the decryption key rendering access to the data impossible.

Protects against “Cold Boot Attacks”
The “Cold Boot” phenomenon occurs because other encryption software leaves encryption keys in RAM even when a PC is password protected by a screen saver, sleeping or hibernating. PC Lock deletes keys and overwrites them with random data during transitions to other power states ensuring they cannot be recovered in a cold boot situation.

Protects against Hackers
The PC Lock password is separate and different than the Windows password. So, even if a hacker is able to login to your Windows user account, they will also have to know your PC Lock password to unlock your data, which if they fail at guessing a set number of times (determined by the user in the Web Management Console) then PC Lock will trigger the key deletion to protect your data.

I like this approach as I’ve always been uneasy about EFS having lost data to it about 10 years ago.  The thought of having encryption that’s tied to your Windows log-in on a specific computer is a bit dangerous so I’ll certainly be giving LapLink PC Lock a try.  The additional peace of mind of having the web console with remote wipe access is an extra bonus.

LapLink has been around for decades now and made it’s name with hardware crossover serial cables that allowed you to easily transfer files from one computer to another (this was in the days before modern networks).  Now to celebrate the company’s 28th anniversary they’re giving away PC Lock completely free for 24 hours (Monday 16th May 2011).  After that it will be available at a discounted rate of $14.95 for a period before returning to the full retail price of $29.99.

If you value your data and keep personal files on your home or work PC or on your laptop or tablet then you should grab PC Lock while its free, you can get it here at www.laplink.com/pclock.  We all keep personal files on our computers and the thought of being able to log into a cloud management console on my smartphone and remotely wipe a device makes this not just a bargain, but potentially the software we must all have on our computers.

One way to migrate from an old computer to a new one is to use a software that can do the heavy lifting and Laplink PC Mover is without doubt one of the best programs for that. First of all it’s compatible to all Microsoft operating systems starting with Windows 95 including Windows NT, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

The transfer of the data can be initiated over network, removable media, flash drives, usb cables and even parallel cables. One of the easiest ways to migrate the data would be to use a network connection or USB 2.0 cable.

Key Features of Laplink PC Mover:

• Complete Migration – Transfer everything with minimal user interaction.
• Application Selectivity – Select the applications that should be moved to the new computer.
• Folder & File Selectivity – Select folders and files that should be moved
• Move User Accounts – User accounts can be moved to the new computer.
• No Overwriting – Existing Data on the new PC will not be altered in any way.
• Exclude Files / Folders / File Types from being migrated

I can definitely recommend this software to migrate data from an old PC to a new one. I still prefer to install the applications anew on the new computer instead of using a migration software but it could come in handy for users who want to speed up the migration and do not want to download, install and configure all the applications again.

Just visit (via Techtrends) the PC Mover promotional website. register an account and download the software.