Is is advisable to encrpt Entourage for privacy?

[JBrad]

Hello. I've recently learned to use disk utility to secure private folders with a password. But I would also like to privatize one of my mail applications, ie., Entourage, which application icon is in my dock and easily opened by anyone after I sign into my computer.

I thought first about making the whole of Office 2004 a secure .dmg but I really don't want a password requirement every time I use Word. Also I wondered about the implications of trashing the whole of the orginal Office folder and keeping the new .dmg Office folder. That made me hesitate.

The simplest solution would seem to be to make an encrpted .dmg of the Entourage application by itself. But if I really want to keep it private I must also trash the orginal Entourage application. Is that possible at all? Is it advisable?

Is there another simpler way to keep an appliation like Entourage or even Mail on my desktop but nevertheless require a password to open it.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

OS 10.4.7 on iMac PPC.

 

[Temujin]

Hello. I've recently learned to use disk utility to secure private folders with a password.

How?

 

[Ross Henderson]

The way you have described is probably best. I suppose it's theoreticly possible to use another archive other than a disk image.

Anyhow, Microsoft Office dosn't like being anywhere other than the root Application folder, for example on seperate partitions, disk or in your case a disk image.

If it were me, I would leave Office alone, as it's certainly the application that will cause the most problems. Any other application and I would say you'll be alright.

 

[JBrad]

How?

Being a novice a more experienced can probably explain better. But here is what to do.

Go to Applications, then to Utilities, then to Disk Utility.

Under File, go to New.

There you have a choice of either a new folder or creating a .dmg for an existing folder. If new, decide on the size and if you want to read/write to the folder.

Then, most importantly, encrypt the folder and choose the password. Don't forget it or you will never be able to open the folder.

The new folder appears where you choose to save it with the name you choose. Also the disk icon. Double click it to open after you have given your password.

Put whatever you want to keep private in the new .dmg folder. Close it to test it to be sure it opens after you give your password. Then trash the original you put in the .dmg folder. Otherwise it can be opened and that defeats the purpose of the new .dmg folder.

Also don't forget to eject the disk or otherwise it can be opened.

This is also described under Disk Utility help. Type in "encryption" and the same directions apply.

That's what I learned and it works perfectly for privacy. My wife and i are having fun keeping secrets from each other!

Hope that helps.

 

[JBrad]

The way you have described is probably best. I suppose it's theoreticly possible to use another archive other than a disk image.

Anyhow, Microsoft Office dosn't like being anywhere other than the root Application folder, for example on seperate partitions, disk or in your case a disk image.

If it were me, I would leave Office alone, as it's certainly the application that will cause the most problems. Any other application and I would say you'll be alright.

Thanks, Ross. Do I understand you? Do you think I am ok with encrypting the Entourage application by itself and leave the whole Office alone? Assuming that is possible.

I ran an experiment by encrypting the Marble Gold Blast (or whatever it is called) folder that Apple gave me with the OS. I have no use for it anyway. It had the application icon inside and after trashing the original folder, it all worked perfectly. I was able to put the icon in the dock right from the Marble Gold.dmg and when opening it, it required a password. So it worked.

That is exactly what I want to do with Entougage. But I worry about fooling around with part of Office that way. I hesititate to trash the original Entourage application and keep the encrypted .dmg version. You seem to suggest there may be a resulting problem of some kind.

I do have the original Office CD so I suppose I could re-install if necessary.