Encrypting your USB flash drive is easy, if...

If you have any concern about dragging your USB flash drive around with you because it contains some private information on it, you can encrypt it.  IF....

IF.... you have Windows 7 or 10.

IF.... your Windows 7 is either the Ultimate or Enterprise version. (Works in all versions of Windows 10)

If you have the necessary version of Windows, it couldn't be simpler.

1. Plug in the flash drive.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Right-click the icon for the removable drive.
4. Select "Turn on Bitlocker..."
5. Follow the prompts.

Okay, that was too simple.  So there must be a catch, yes??

Yep.  there are actually a couple:

Catch #1:

You can only initialize BitLocker on the flash drive using either Ultimate or Enterprise versions of Windows 7. (Or any version of Windows 10)  .... But you noticed that part above, right??

The good news is: once initialized you can use the drive on any Windows 7 machine.  And any XP machine if you add the appropriate utility app (free download from Microsoft).

Catch #2:

If there's any data on the flash drive when you initialize BitLocker on it, it will take FOREVER!!  So initialize the drive while it's empty.  Once the encryption is initialized on the drive, performance on the drive is normal.

If there's data on the drive that you want to keep, drag it into a folder on your PC, erase it from the flash drive, then copy it back to the flash drive after BitLocker is initialized.  It will save you a bunch of time.  Trust me. ....  Or pour a mug of your favorite libation and find something else to amuse yourself while it initializes.

Catch #3:

Well, this is actually just an operational note so it's not really a catch .... except if you haven't used an encrypted drive in awhile and can't figure out why you can't get into it because you forgot about this operational note.

After you connect the drive you MUST open My Computer (or the Windows file explorer and click on "Computer").  This will display all available drives.  The encrypted drive will have a coloured padlock on it.  Just double-click it and BitLocker will do its thing to make it available.

Y'er welcome.   

 UPDATE:  New Encryption Mode

BitLocker in Windows 10 version 1511 (November Update) and newer now includes the 256-bit XTS-AES encryption mode that provides additional integrity support with the improved algorithm. However, it’s not available on older versions of Windows.

You’ll need to choose which method to use. So, if you only plan on using this drive on the PC you’re encrypting it on; you’ll probably want to use the new encryption mode.

But if you need to use the drive on other PCs that have older versions of Windows (which is probably the case with a flash drive or SD card), select Compatible Mode, which uses the previous 128-bit AES.

Convert Portable Thunderbird to Standard Version

I've been using Portable Thunderbird for email on my desktop and laptop computers for a few years.  It has allowed me to easily take all the work I've been doing on my desktop and copy it to a thumb drive to use with the laptop while travelling.  When I get home I just copy it all back onto the desktop and carry on.  (Actually I use the sync feature of Free Commander so that only the changed files get moved in either direction.)

For the past couple of years I've moved most of my mobile computing to my Android smartphone and Android tablet.  I rarely take my laptop on the road anymore.  So using Portable Thunderbird on my desktop no longer serves any useful purpose.  I plan to continue to use Thunderbird on the desktop but there is a drawback to using the portable version.  Windows will not allow it to be set as the default email client.  

So long as the portability was a major benefit I was able to live with the inconvenience of not having a default email client.  But now I want to convert to the standard version of Thunderbird so it can be my default email client.  It took a bit of digging to figure out how to do it but it turned out to be quite simple, if you know what to do.  If you are currently a Thunderbird user you already know most of what you need to know.  And you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't.  :-)

The first thing to know is that Thunderbird uses a profile(s) to store everything in: email account setup, folders and emails, address book(s), and settings related to all of that.

The second thing to know is that the standard version of Thunderbird can have multiple profiles, with one of them being the default, and Portable Thunderbird can only have one.

The third thing you need to know is how to make your Portable Thunderbird profile into your default profile in the standard version.

Step 1:

Download and install the standard version of Mozilla Thunderbird.

Step 2:

Run the newly installed Thunderbird once so it will create a default profile.

Step 3:

(Okay, now it's going to start getting tougher.)  Now you need to find and copy the Portable Thunderbird profile into the default profile in the newly installed standard version.

Finding your current profile

You can open your profile folder via "Help → Troubleshooting Information...".  When the Troubleshooting Information page is displayed look in the left column of the top section (Application Basics) for "Profile Folder". Now click on the "Show Folder button.

Clicking the "Show Folder" button will open a File Explorer window in the profile folder. This works for both the portable and standard versions of Thunderbird.

Step 4:

Now that you know how to get to the profile folders you need to open the standard version, go to the Troubleshooting Information screen and click the "Show Folder" button to open the default profile folder.  Close the standard version of Thunderbird but leave the File Explorer window open to the default profile folder.

Step 5:

Open the portable version and do the same thing to get a File Explorer window open in the portable version's profile folder. Close the portable version but leave the File Explorer window open.

Step 6:

Now that you have the two File Explorer windows open you just copy the contents of the Portable Thunderbird profile folder into the default profile folder for the standard version.  (You did pay attention to which folder was which, didn't you??)

Last Step:

Open the standard version of Mozilla Thunderbird and check to see that all the good stuff from the Portable version is now available.  

Y'er Welcome.  

Keywords: Move Portable Thunderbird profile to standard version of Thunderbird and make it the default.

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