Safer alternatives to whole-disk encryption

No matter how old or new your PC is, and regardless of what Windows version you're running, you can have extremely reliable data and boot security using two free alternatives to whole-disk encryption.

Data security: Although whole-disc encryption can be problematic, file-and-folder encryption is rock-solid. There are many tools available, but perhaps the most popular is the open-source 7-Zip (site) application. It's free for personal and business use, and it can scramble any file, folder, or group of folders with essentially uncrackable 256-AES encryption (more info). Even if a hacker gains access to your hard drive, your encrypted files should remain completely safe, secure, and unreadable.

Note: Although this article focuses on encryption, 7-Zip also compresses files, so they occupy less disk space. The amount of compression varies with file type, but it's not uncommon for file size to shrink by around 50 percent. Compression can be an important added benefit if you have a small, traditional hard drive or a solid-state drive (SSD). So 7-Zip can simultaneously encrypt your data and shrink the size of your folders and files.

Below, I'll show you the basics of using 7-Zip to encrypt and compress files and folders you select. (Selective file/folder encryption and compression gives you more control than does whole-disk encryption. For example, there's little reason to encrypt or compress music, video, and image files. More on that below.)

Boot security: Virtually every PC in use today lets you set one or more low-level, pre-boot passwords. One type of password protects the system as a whole; the password must be entered before the system will boot. Many PCs also offer a separate supervisor password to prevent unauthorized changes to the basic system settings. And some PCs let you set a password to protect the hard disk or SSD from unauthorized access.

The passwords can be used singly or in combination, depending on how much security you want or need. Later in this article, you'll see how to access and set whatever passwords your system offers.

Combine data and boot security, and your data is protected from almost all malicious threats. A pre-boot password will keep hackers from accessing your system with separate bootable media. And if a hacker gets past that barrier, encryption will prevent access to sensitive files and folders. Whether you combine file/folder data security and boot security or use one of the two alone, you won't run into problems with UEFI, Secure Boot, or any other of your PC's security features.