PortableApps.com has announced the finalization of the world's first fully open portable software format allowing users to carry their favorite software on USB flash drives and other devices. Multiple software products from the leading software publishers are now available.

"We've worked with some of the world's leading software publishers to bring their software to our portable platform," said PortableApps.com founder and lead developer John T. Haller. "Now users will be able to bring all of their favorite software from any publishers with them."

It looks like the government didn't quite tell the truth about the prisoner data loss after all.

The new Resource Accounts for 2008-2009 report from the Home Office offered a dramatically new estimation of how much data was lost by PA Consulting last year surprising many and leading a few to question if the government can adequately protect the personal data of its citizens.

Rohos Mini Drive is another security product I have come across, but one that is relatively easy to setup. AND you don't need admin rights for this one, so you should be safe in most environments using this software.

It also been independently tested and got a pretty good review at cnet.

There is no doubt that the humble USB memory stick has become something of a phenomenon over the past few years, being the product of choice when it comes to backing up and transporting data.

But for 'power users' you can get much more from your stick, host anything from a few utility programs, through to a complete office suite on a stick or even a complete operating system.

Insurance firm Amicus Legal has been put on notice for breaches of the Data Protection Act, after it failed to protect sensitive customer data on a laptop that was subsequently stolen.

The laptop, privately owned by a contracted consultant, contained an estimated 100,000 unencrypted customer records. The sensitive data held on the machine in plain text included details of legal advice.

So another company falls foul of lost data. Here is the full report here..

John K

Here is a list of our March 09 competition winners.

• Graham Morris, Warehorne,Kent
• Steven Sheargold, Long Eaton, Nottingham
• Leonel Manata, Forest Hill, London
• Mark Flanagan, Belleek, Fermanagh
• Sandy Heenan, Monifieth, Angus
• Freda Kerslake, Horndean, Hants

The question: How many JPEG files, from a 5 megapixel camera, would you expect to get on a 2Gb USB memory stick.

Our answer was the third selection, you can get approximately 800 images.

Thanks to all our entrants.

John

Central to the recovery service we operate is the performance and functionality of the Royal Mail service on whom we depend. Since the return and recovery service operates through the Royal Mail FREEPOST service.

I expect to have the latest competition results announced after this weekend.

Unfortunately there were an extremely high number of entrants to the latest competition, this has caused something of a problem with code I was using.

Thank you to Alison from Bristol for the reminder.

Good luck.

This is a very basic description of how file recovery works; it is purely intended to describe the concept and refers generally to a Windows operating system since the majority of devices are produced in a FAT format. File recovery in reality is a very complex subject but at least here you will get an appreciation of what goes on.

A secure memory stick is a happy memory stick, and whether we realise it or not it’s what we all really need.

And like most things in computing there is more than one way to achieve this; the first is using software to provide a secure file area where you are able store your files. The second is to use a hardware enabled USB memory device with access control built in, and this is the main focus of this discussion. However which is better for you depends on your personal preferences.