Firefox bookmarks cannot be protected from prying eyes by default. Users with access can see the link titles and destinations of all bookmarks. Sometimes you may want to password protect and obscure links so that they cannot be opened or identified by third parties.

The Firefox add-on Link Password offers those options. The add-on adds two new options to the right-click bookmark’s context menu. This works both in the Bookmark’s Manager but also if bookmarks are displayed via a button in the Firefox user interface.

Encrypt this link password protects the link, with an option to randomize the link text as well to obscure the bookmark further and avoid identification of the link destination this way. When Encrypt this link is selected, a new window is displayed where a password needs to be entered. The Rename links box is optional.

The link will be replaced by a linkpassword url, the link title by a random page title. In this case, the link title was replaced by “Canada – Yahoo! Search Results”.

It can happen that a very strange looking link title will be selected. One of the links for instance was renamed to “Evighetens Filosofi – Visdomsord som passa dig… – Soker “Blue”, Sida 1″. It may make sense to select a custom link title manually instead, especially if you come up with a system that tells you – and no one else – where the link leads to.

When you open a password protected bookmark, you are asked to enter the password to decrypt the link and open the website.

This may be a bit inconvenient for bookmarks that you open a lot in Firefox, as you need to enter the password every time you open it in the browser. An option to enter the password once and store it for the browser session would be handy. I’d also like to see an option to protect all bookmarks with a single password automatically that you could enter to make all links available. This would make the extension more comfortable to work with.

Firefox users can install the Link Password extension directly from the official Mozilla Add-on repository.

The first three offer the manipulation options, the fourth – console – displays a log of operations and the last contains information about the application and its developer.

A pdf document needs to be loaded in the Document tab before all existing features become available. The program fills out the PDF MetaData automatically. It is now up to the user to make changes to the pdf file.

MetaData information can be changed in the Document tab. Here it is possible to delete, add or edit the author, title, subject, keywords, creator and producer.

It is furthermore possible to select a new or the same pdf document as the target file. The pdf will be overwritten if the same is selected, otherwise it will be created anew.

The signature tab offers options to add certificates to the pdf document. It is optionally possible to create a timestamped signature. Multi-signatures, the process of signing documents multiple times, is available as well under the Signature tab.

Encryption finally can be used to add protections to the document. This includes password protecting the pdf but also options to disable pdf specific features like printing, making modifications or copying.

A click on the Process button applies the changes to the selected document. It is for instance possible to password protect pdf documents so that they can only be accessed if the correct password is entered in the pdf reader.

ISafePDf is a handy portable software program for users who want to password protect, sign or timestamp pdf documents. A batch operating mode would be a good addition in future releases, as it is currently only possible to process single pdf documents.

The pdf software can be downloaded from the developer website. The program is compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system and available as a portable version and source code.

This lack of protection could be a problem if multiple users are using the computer or if other users have (theoretical) access to the PC which is often the case at work.

The following guide reviews two options on how to protect the Thunderbird email client to prevent unauthorized access to the data.

Password Protection Add-on

Thunderbird, just like Firefox, supports add-ons. Add-ons are small programs that increase or change the functionality of the email client.

Profile Password is a Thunderbird add-on that offers the means to password protect a Thunderbird profile. The extension adds a new entry to the Tools menu of the email client.

profile password

Thunderbird displays a password form on startup once a password has been set in the extension’s options.

This protection is generally considered to be weak, largely because of options to circumvent the protection. It is for instance possible to access the mails and other information directly in the Thunderbird profile directory.

It might provide enough protection in some situations but technical users will find a way around it eventually. This protection becomes stronger if IMAP accounts are used since the emails are by default not downloaded to the local computer system. Thunderbird 3 on the other hand makes use of email synchronization by default which downloads the messages to the local PC. This feature needs to be disabled in Account Settings –> Synchronization & Storage.

Using Encryption

Profile encryption is the only available option to protect a Thunderbird profile completely from access by third parties. The encryption software True Crypt is a popular choice as it is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

See Create a secure data safe with True Crypt for pointers on how to create an encrypted partition or container on your computer.

It’s more complicated to setup but yields the highest possible protection. The basic concept is to create an encrypted container or partition on the computer before moving the Thunderbird profile folder there.

Existing profiles need to be moved to the new location and Thunderbird configured to use that new location for storage.

The encrypted storage container needs to be mounted before Thunderbird can access the profile. The user basically needs to enter the password to decrypt the storage. This has to be done at least once in every computing session in which Thunderbird is needed. At least once means that it depends on the user’s handling of the encrypted storage after Thunderbird has been used. Some users might prefer to unmount the encrypted container to protect Thunderbird efficiently while others might prefer to keep it mounted to be able to access emails in Thunderbird faster.

But sometimes these programs are not really what a user is looking for. Some users are looking for easy to use programs that offer a good enough encryption to keep other users of the computer. A scenario would be important files that should be kept away from children or personal documents and information.

PenyuLocker could be such a security program. It not only encrypts a folder on the local computer system so that it can only be accessed with the right password, it also disguises that folder as the recycling bin to make identifcation even more unlikely.

The software program is easy to use. It displays a simple folder browser and two buttons in its interface to unlock and lock the folders. Locked folders get their icon replaced with the recycle bin icon. Users who try to access that folder will be redirected to the real recycle bin folder of the drive making the disguise elegant and efficient.

The program needs to be used again to unlock the folder before its contents can be used. It is possible to lock multiple folders with the program.

Penyulocker is a free program for the Windows operating system that can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

Empathy is a portable application that should run fine on most Windows operating systems. The main purpose is the protection of software by password protecting the executable files. The whole process of protecting applications is configured in the program’s main interface.

It starts by selecting an executable from the computer’s hard drive. Once a file has been selected a password can be entered that will be used to protect it. A click on the Protect button will password protect the file which from that moment on can only be accessed by supplying the password first.

The same interface contains an option to unlock files again or to test them to see if everything is working as intended. The last option available is to create a backup of a file before processing it.

Empathy is postcardware. It has one severe restriction which is a bit hilarious. The unregistered version accepts only 1 char passwords. Now, this might be enough for most users as long as they do not know about the limit because the main purpose is clearly to keep casual users from accessing the application and not a IT professional. The limit can be lifted if you send the software developer a postcard to his address in Slovakia.