Dropbox and BoxCryptor

I've been using Dropbox for about a year and a half now. File syncing between three Windows computers has been flawless, even when I've thrown multi GB tests with MD5 checksums at it. (I've done the same tests with SugarSync, but I've had syncing and file corruption problems, so I don't trust it for anything important. Customer service was unable to solve the problems I experienced. This is unfortunate, since SugarSync has some features that I really like.)

I trust Dropbox, and what they have said re: security issues recently. But there is always a possibility that they could be hacked and the contents of one's Dropbox exposed to the public or hackers. (As happened a few weeks ago...) So I've not put truly sensitive information in my Dropbox.

I've been using BoxCryptor for over a month now. Encrypted versions of files are stored in my Dropbox and synced between my computers, the unencrypted versions are available in a virtual local drive. I ran into a minor problem related to overall directory length, a Microsoft .NET Framework issue, but otherwise BoxCryptor has worked perfectly for me. With BoxCryptor only I have the encryption key.  (8/26/11 Update: I'm now using the alpha release of the BoxCryptor Android app which gives me read-only access to my encrypted files.  It is working great so far.)

Using BoxCryptor and Dropbox I can securely share files between computers.

Windows Vista and XP SP3

In the past year I've bought three new computers for either work or home. In all cases I specified Windows XP Pro, avoiding Windows Vista. IMO Vista offers few added features, and adds bloat and incompatibility with a lot of hardware.

All is not perfect in Windows XP land though. On the first system I tried to install SP3 on I ended up with the BSOD during two attempts. The SP3 install process will back out any changes after a failed install, so I didn't lose anything other than my time. So I've decide to block the SP3 install on the five Windows computers that I take care of. (See Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit.)

More and more I'm thinking of moving to Linux as my desktop/notebook OS of choice. I already know Linux well, I just need to find alternatives to some programs, or run Windows versions in Wine on in a VM. At this point it look promising.

Update: In the end Windows 7 came out, and it just worked. I never bought or used a computer with Windows Vista on it.