USB drives, external HDDs, and memory cards—remains the go-to for transferring and backing up data. But these devices are also among the easies ...

Laptops, external drives, and USB sticks are especially vulnerable to data theft, but with Windows and a few tools, you can protect them using encryption.

How to Encrypt any File, Folder, or Drive on Your System Trust us, it’s safer this way. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images ...

Whether it's an old hard drive fished out of the trash, or your computer gets stolen, encrypting your drive on Windows can help protect your sensitive data.