Funnily enough, people think of their computers – those connected to the Internet – as their private place, only because the find the machine in their private home. They couldn’t be more wrong, and they do not take sufficient security measures to ensure this much wanted privacy, and in communication the downright neglect it completely.

Possibly, spyware is searching your computer this very moment for exploitable data, such as your passwords and other sensitive data for bank accounts and credit cards. Sending an email for instance is best compared to sending a post card that is written with a pencil. Whoever manages to lay hand on it, can read it and even change the content.

Your line of defence should at least be twofold: install the appropriate security programs (► AntiVir, ► AntiSpy, ► Firewall ) and keep private data private by encrypting them.

Alas, encryption usually tends to involve the often complicated installation of encryption tools, which in itself is error-prone, and the usage easily turns out to be too much of a hassle. So the matter of protecting your sensitive data and communication by encrypting the information is likely to be disregarded, and yes, discarded all together.

We here now suggest three small programs which will facilitate this important task for you, enabling you to protect your core private data with grace and simplicity. If you use these tools to communicate encrypted messages, there is only one point to consider: how do you get the password safely to the recipient in the first place? This is a tricky part, and the best solution at this level we know is by simply calling him and giving the password orally. Beware, if you send the password by email, you send a post card, everybody can read...