Encryption for a portable device. Program must run on the external
device only, not requiring an installation. Must also be able to work
on a guest account (i.e. not requiring administrative rights on the
computer it is connected to). Should be fast and possibly
free/shareware.

I'm unclear about what you're trying to do, or what platform you're
running on. A good place to start is PGP. I've run older versions of
PGP for DOS on Windows machines for the very reasons you mentioned, it
doesn't need to be installed. Here's a link that has freeware for a
variety of OSs:

http://www.pgpi.org/products/pgp/versions/freeware/

Garry, thx for your reaction. This is the first time I use google
answers, I was too brief, admittedly. So for background info:

I am travelling a lot and often have access to (semi)public computers
running XP, with internet-connection and the ususal mainstream progs
(IE, MSoffice etc) so I could easily work there with my files stored
on my stick (1 GB). Or with an even larger USB-HDD. Problem is that I
would like to encrypt the files on stick or disk for case of loss or
theft, and still be able to work with them on guest accounts.

On my laptop I use drive-crypt, which creates encrypted containers. An
opened container becomes a drive under Windows, and I find this very
handy. You don't have to think to de/encrypt every single file, just
use them as you do normally, and there is no delay to the operations
at all.

It would be possible to put such a container to the external device,
but in order to be opened the program needs to be installed. Beside
the fact that it would be a hassle to install it on a multitude of
computers, it is also often not possible because the profile
accessable to me is just a user account, where no progs may be
installed.

So basically I am looking for a similar program which creates
containers on the external device, where I could store all of my files
and decrypt them while working on a different computer, and when
checking out, the files would be updated and re-encrypted in the
container and nothing remains on the host.

I am aware that the comfort of Windows-Explorer integrated tasks for
such a program is probably not possible without an installation
process modifying the registry, but there should be a possibility to
run such a program with less comfort without modifying the host
computer.

Seems Windows doesn't accept installation of devices from a guest
account - but maybe a ramdrive? Or else integration to one of the free
explorer-progs available, which are also portable (running from the
stick only).

I'll have a look at the PGP links you mentioned, but I know PGP mainly
as tool for e-mail encryption and that's not what I'm looking for.

Hope it is more clear now, pls don't hesitate to ask for further
clarification if needed. Should you know of other nice programs that
run only from a stick, pls let me know. I am very happy with opera and
firefox running on my stick and leaving no traces on the computer used
- so it *is* possible :-)

I use Cryptainer on my flash drive (512m). There is a desktop version
and a portable version for portable storage devices.

It creates a folder where you can drag files. When you close the
folder it is encrypted.

They have a free version to try out. check it out below.

http://www.cypherix.com/cryptainerle/

@lionfish:
Hey, go and claim the prize-money! This is exactly what I've been
looking for,  the portable version works like a charm! A transparent
and easy program, really great!

Pity that the free version allows creation of 25MB containers only,
but that may be enough for many users. I will probably go for one of
registered versions.

Thanks again and sorry for the delay in my reply - I've been away and
out of internet access.

Chris

oops, I was too fast with my enthusiasm :-(

Although a nice program, cryptainer's portable component can't be run
on a computer where you don't have administrator's rights.

This, unfortunately, reduces its usability drastically. Pity - the
idea and implementation of a portable module is excellent.

Must continue my search ...

Hey Chris,

I have been looking for a portable encryption program that can access
my locked files or folder anywhere without having to install a
decryption program of any kind.  So far only a program called Folder
Lock allows me to access my encrypted data on a machine without having
to install the program itself.

However I have read 2 out of 12 comments from users that they have
program accessing the encrypted files, but other users have good
commects on it.

now I am still trying and testing on it with my USB harddrive.

You can give it a try and let me know how you think of it too.  I
think if there is nothing wrong and I will go ahead and purchase it.

http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock/

and if you can find anything better plz let me know.  Thanks.

Eric

Hello Eric,

I had a look at folderlock and have tested it. It has the same
limitation - unless you have administrative rights, the portable
version won't run from your USB stick. So for my purposes it is not
useful, regretfully.

In addition, the whole circus with proprietary bla-bla smells a bit
like snake-oil (http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9902.html), and
the program hides the encrypted folder somewhere (didn't have time nor
am I really interested to find out where exactly). This makes, for
example, a backup problematic.

If you can live with the a/m limitation, I'd rather recommend you the
program cryptainer, mentioned in an earlier comment. It's a much more
straightforward and transparent program with (as much as I could find
out) no false claims.

Search continues ... whoever has something to suggest - bring it on!

Chris

Believe have found answer to all of our prayers, lol, it's a product
called CryptMage in the following links:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/darbak/
http://www.webattack.com/viewapp.php?id=105297&a=7115294

Hope it helps, cheers.