My last computer got hacked and and fried. It was awful. So now I am back with a vengence, but I want to make sure not to make the same mistake twice.

I was wondering if there was anyone here, maybe, who could point me in the right direction...

I have been using Win XP, and it comes with a firewall, but I am worried it isn't strong enough.

I am thinking about getting Zonealarm’s DataLock data encryption software. Basically I think that for laptops, it is a good way to make sure that if it gets stolen or I lose it (the reality is more like forget it) that nobody can access my data. It seems to run in the back ground so that you don’t know it is actually running.

They say that it uses a pre-boot authentication in which users must provide the correct username and password before the operating system boot process will even begin. They also have a 24/7 password recovery service incase you forget your password.

A couple of questions:

1) Is this pre-boot authentication something that will help keep the data secure?
2) What kind of encryption is used?
3) How hard will DataLock make getting the data from my hard drive?

A couple of questions:

1) Is this pre-boot authentication something that will help keep the data secure?
2) What kind of encryption is used?
3) How hard will DataLock make getting the data from my hard drive?

I have been looking at this also. It seems that the pre-boot authentication is a good feature, because it will not allow someone to boot the laptop without the password. Basically, at that point they would pull the drive, and wipe it so they can at least use the laptop with a new install.

My understanding is that Datalock is 256k - which is the strongest.

Datalock runs in the background, and I have not found anyone saying that it is slow.