encrypting and deleting pagefile

[Anderson2]

I'm very new to W 7 so please forgive me if the answer is obvious. I'm using W 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

This is a home laptop but I do have some personal financial info on it (which I encrypt using TrueCrypt) and therefore am concerned about the pagefile should the laptop be stolen. I therefore would like to know how to:

1) encrypt the page file. Would that slow things a great deal?

2) delete the page file on shutdown.

3) Other security problems I should know about concerning the pagefile.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Victek]

I'm very new to W 7 so please forgive me if the answer is obvious. I'm using W 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

This is a home laptop but I do have some personal financial info on it (which I encrypt using TrueCrypt) and therefore am concerned about the pagefile should the laptop be stolen. I therefore would like to know how to:

1) encrypt the page file. Would that slow things a great deal?

2) delete the page file on shutdown.

3) Other security problems I should know about concerning the pagefile.

Thanks,

Jeff

.
I dont' know about encryption, but you can set an option to have the pagefile deleted on shutdown. It may slow the shutdown process though.

 

[Anderson2]

Thanks. How do I have the pagefile deleted on shutdown? (I thought that happened automatically).
Jeff

 

[D3ftOn3Z]

- Type "regedit" at the start menu.
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\
- Right click on Memory Management and select New DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name the DWORD value “ClearPageFileAtShutdown”
- Double-click on the DWORD value and type “1″

After that restart your PC to apply the changes.
Hope this helps.

*Note - this will increase your shutdown time.

 

[Anderson2]

Thank you. ClearPageFileAtShutdown already existed in my system. I changed it from 0 to 1. Will try it out.
Thanks.

 

[D3ftOn3Z]

Thank you. ClearPageFileAtShutdown already existed in my system. I changed it from 0 to 1. Will try it out.
Thanks.

You're welcome....

 

[brady]

If you machine is encrypted with true crypt then why are you worrying about the page file? Even if you simply chose "partition encryption" your pagefile will fall under the encryption anyway. You set a password on the drive. Nobody without that password could get to your page file if your laptop was stolen.

 

[jav]

Paging File
Note: The issue described below does not affect you if the system partition or system drive is encrypted (for more information, see the chapter System Encryption) and if all paging files are located on one or more of the partitions within the key scope of system encryption, for example, on the partition where Windows is installed (for more information, see the subsection 'Solution' below).
Also called 'swap file'; Windows uses this file (usually stored on a hard drive) to hold parts of programs and data files that do not fit in memory. This means that sensitive data, which you believe are only stored in RAM, can actually be written unencrypted to a hard drive by Windows without you knowing.

TrueCrypt always attempts to lock the memory areas in which cached passwords, encryption keys, and other sensitive data are stored, in order to prevent such data from being leaked to paging files. However, note that Windows may reject or fail to lock memory for various (documented and undocumented) reasons. Furthermore, TrueCrypt cannot prevent the contents of sensitive files that are opened in RAM from being saved unencrypted to a paging file (note that when you open a file stored on a TrueCrypt volume, for example, in a text editor, then the content of the file is stored unencrypted in RAM).

more info and how to prevent it: TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source Disk Encryption - Documentation - Paging File

Hope it will help you

 

[HumbleOpinion]

encrypting pagefile

This link takes you to an Infoworld discussion about encrypting your pagefile; Infoworld

Here is how to do it in Vista; Vista: Encrypt the Pagefile I would imagine it is done the same way in W7.

Windows club has a 'Tweak" program that will make the setting change for you at WindowsClub. PC World recommends this program.

Depending on your system, you may not notice the impact of encrypting the pagefile to its performance. It would not be necessary to delete it during each shutdown if it is encrypted, and that in itself is a huge performance gain.

 

[Anderson2]

If you machine is encrypted with true crypt then why are you worrying about the page file? Even if you simply chose "partition encryption" your pagefile will fall under the encryption anyway. You set a password on the drive. Nobody without that password could get to your page file if your laptop was stolen.

The machine is not encrypted with True Crypt. Only a couple of file containers are encrypted. The rest of the partition is not encrypted.

 

[Anderson2]

This link takes you to an Infoworld discussion about encrypting your pagefile; Infoworld

Here is how to do it in Vista; Vista: Encrypt the Pagefile I would imagine it is done the same way in W7.

Windows club has a 'Tweak" program that will make the setting change for you at WindowsClub. PC World recommends this program.

Depending on your system, you may not notice the impact of encrypting the pagefile to its performance. It would not be necessary to delete it during each shutdown if it is encrypted, and that in itself is a huge performance gain.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

When I tried the deleting of the pagefile at shutdown, I find it slowed shutdown too much and therefore reversed it.

 

[problemo]

Just encrypt your whole system drive with Truecrypt. That is the safest method to encryption. I wouldn't rely on containers if the information is highly confidential. Even deleting or encrypting page file on an unencrypted drive might not do the trick.

 

[M1GU31]

i encrypted my whole desktop HDD just in case somebody were to break into my house and steal it, my neighbors got their goods stolen so i saw the need to encrypt my HDD to keep my personal things safe in case they were stolen they would have to wipe it out and wouldn't be able to recover my files since i encrypted it with 7 wipe passes

so i would suggest encrypting the whole drive with 7wipe passes to be sure ,will take couple days but its worth it and you can stop it and continue it when ever even if you turn off your pc