If you’re supercautious about protecting your PC’s data from prying eyes–especially when it comes to a laptop that might get lost–you could use Windows 7’s BitLocker disk encryption to secure every last file. But BitLocker only comes with Windows’ two priciest versions, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate. Encryption, Microsoft clearly thinks, is of interest mostly to big-business types and hardcore users.
Enter DataLock, a new utility from Check Point Software’s ZoneAlarm division. Like Bit-Locker, it does full-drive encryption–the whole thing gets locked up, and you have to enter a password before the boot process starts to get access to Windows and your data. Unlike BitLocker, DataLock is aimed at consumers and small businesses, with a price to match: $19.95 (an introductory price–list is $29.95). And just in case you encrypt your drive and then forget the password–hey, I’ll bet it’s been know to happen–the software comes with a phone-based password recovery service that’s available 24/7.
DataLock was announced this week at the RSA security conference in San Francisco, and is available now as a download from ZoneAlarm’s site.