Windows Vista??™s encryption system employs symmetric key cryptography,
which uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt data. Windows generates a
unique key for each user, so that no user can decrypt another user??™s data.*
The first time you use encryption on your PC, Vista creates a new encryption
certificate for you (if you don??™t already have one) and prompts you to
back up your certificate with the window shown in Figure 8-11.
Whether or not you take Windows up on its offer, you can use one of the
two included tools to manage your encryption certificates:
Certificate Manager
Open your Start menu, type certmgr.msc, and press Enter to fire up the
Certificate Manager. Expand the Personal branch and select the Certificates
folder to view the certificates installed on your PC. The one used
for NTFS encryption is labeled Encrypting File System in the Intended
Purposes column. View any certificate by double-clicking it.
You can back up a certificate by highlighting it and then selecting All
Tasks ??? Export from the Action menu. Just save the file to a USB memory
key or CD so it??™s safe in the event that your hard disk crashes and
you need to install a second copy of Windows to access your data. (This
is the same thing that happens if you click Back up now (recommended)
when you see the prompt in Figure 8-11.)
If you need to, you can install a backed-up encryption certificate on any
PC??”and thus read the files encrypted with it??”by importing it as
described in ???Allow others to access your encrypted files,??? earlier in this
chapter.
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