TSGL: Do we regard our PCs as gods? (was encryption question)

[Eric and Merna Bitter]

Do we regard our PCs (or the operating systems on them) as gods?

Because the computer won't let Craig's family member get to his/her
pictures, do we assume too quickly or too easily that the PC knows best,
that it controls us, that we must bow down to it?

Let's assume for a moment that:
(a)    these pictures are not computer files but good, "old-fashioned,"
developed, physical items;
(b)    while the family member's house was being repainted, he/she asked
another family member or friend to look after those valued (physical)
pictures;
(c)    the person to whom they were entrusted was diligent (the reason
he/she was chosen as caretaker) and put them in a box with some kind of
protection on it (padlock, built-in lock with self-destruct mechanism, safe
deposit box, other?); and
(d)    that person dies.

Wouldn't the owner of those pictures do everything he/she could to retrieve
them?  Take the box home, cut the padlock, try to find the combination to
the lock with the self-destructing mechanism, or try to locate the safe
deposit box and prove ownership of its contents even though not holding a
key?

Craig's encryption problem was the catalyst for this post (sermon? lecture?
thesis?), but I could ask the same question about other computer problems
any one of us might have.

Do we too easily, too quickly, give up?  Do we think that because the
computer says so, it must be so?  Do we regard the computer more highly than
we regard ourselves, our intellects, our capabilities?

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."  (Voltaire)

Man invented computers.  Do we regard them as gods?

Merna


----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric and Merna Bitter" <embitt at westnet.com.au>
To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: TSGL: encryption question


Assuming she needs the space on the external drive, can she save the
protected ones that she would like to keep in a temporary folder on her hard
drive or a flash drive or a CD/DVD?  That way she would still have them to
try unlocking methods on in the future.  If it were something I really
didn't want to lose, I'd try that.  In fact, I'd probably copy/paste/burn
them to more than one place in case my trials corrupted them.

There may be a method available now that we simply haven't found.  If not,
there may be a method available tomorrow or next week or next month.

Merna


----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig" <crtrav at charter.net>
To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 8:51 AM
Subject: Re: TSGL: encryption question


The forums seem to show the same question asked, but no direct answers.
The kicker for me was the Microsoft site that warns, "NOTE: If you do
not have access to a Recovery Agent's account with a valid recovery key,
you cannot recover the data. There is no workaround in EFS." And since
my niece reformatted her C: drive, that 40 digit key was lost. I'll
report to her that the data is probably gone forever.

Thank you to all who helped me with this problem. You furnished a lot of
interesting reading. This List is such a fabulous resource!

Craig



Craig wrote:
> I received this email from a family member,
>
> I have some protected files (mainly my pictures and home videos) on my
> external hard drive, then I had to reformat my hard drive but I forgot
> to unprotect these files on my external.  Now I can't open these files.
> How can I unprotect them?  I know there has to be a way! it's on a usb,
> it's a seagate. I just used the regular windows protection. for
> instance, many of the files are .jpg, so I right click on the file, then
> properties, then I click attributes: advanced, then encrypt contents to
> secure data. sometimes I have access to the details button which shows
> who has access to the file. my old computer name and certificate are
> listed from before the reformat. now my certificate is a totally
> different number (I checked). anyway, what can I do? all of emma's
> beautiful pictures are frozen!
>
>
> Am I right by telling her that they are lost? It's XPSP2
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tech Support Guy Mailing List
> http://www.tsgserver.com/list/
>
>
>

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10:14 AM