Email encryption is a task that's often misunderstood and frequently confusing. In fact, I can't think of anyone on my list of friends right now--geek or otherwise--who actually encrypts their email. That's not because email encryption is a bad thing. In fact, there are some pretty compelling benefits to being able to conceal the contents of a message. Suppose you have to quickly email a friend or loved one access to your online banking account for some reason. You aren't going to want to just send that information straight into the digital ether. An unhappy coworker or an industrious packet sniffer can pick out the contents of your message and compromise your security in a short amount of time.

You usually have to walk through a ton of hoops to get your hands on powerful email encryption. It's a hodgepodge of certificates, authentications, digital signatures, strings of text exchanged as keys, et cetera. Or, at least, it was. A helpful piece of freeware called Comodo SecureEmail is attempting to simultaneously reduce the headache and maximize the benefit of email encryption. I'm proud to report that it's super-easy to use so long as you know how to work your way around a typical configuration screen. More importantly, it's a great way to set up the encryption handshake between you and new email contacts without rendering you lifeless from all the different options and authentications.

Comodo's options are as numerous as they are detailed--going into all of them right now would double the size of this mini-review. Here's the gist: You create an encryption certificate and start sending your contacts unencrypted and encrypted emails depending on your preferences. When a contact receives an encrypted email for the first time, he or she has one or two options: download Comodo to view the contents of the message or, if you've allowed it, use a one-time-only, secure Web form to view the message. The first option will automatically add said contact's digital certificate to your library, completing the handshake.

It's as easy as that--you don't have to fuss with a prearranged sharing of keys or any of that mess. Just send the email and let Comodo take care of the rest: Simple, secure, speedy.

Each week, Maximum PC picks a new free or shareware download as its favorite of... the week. Have a nifty application that you can't live without? Twitter David Murphy @acererak with your latest suggestions.

Email goes back a long way. And so too, perhaps, do your archives. If you happen to be one of those obsessive savers of email, then Google’s newly announced Email Uploader might just be of interest to you.

If you’ve got a lot of email history odds are it’s in a number of different formats. Putting it all into a single format, and in a single location, would be a boon, especially if you have the need to dredge back through them from time-to-time. The Email Uploader lets you “push your archives” up to your Google Apps email account, where they’ll float away on the cloud until you need them. And, as an added bonus, you’ll be able to access them anywhere you can get on the Internet.

The Email Uploader for Windows, however, is limited to moving your Outlook archives (2003 and greater) up to the cloud. The Mac client, on the other hand, will let you load archives from Apple Mail, Eudora, and Thunderbird. And, Google warns us, this will only work for a Google Apps email account--not for gmail.com or googlemail.com accounts.

Image Credit: gosheshe/Flickr

Redmond, we have a problem. According to several user reports, Windows 7 inherited Vista's poor power management when it comes to laptop battery life.

The reports mostly come from users on Microsoft's TechNet forum, who complain of reductions in battery life from two hours down to 30 minutes, and in some cases, even less. There have also been complaints of batteries not fully recharging, and some have even claimed that their laptop batteries are forever damaged by whatever drainage problem might be occurring.

These types of issues also plagued Vista and were supposed to be addressed in Windows 7. Towards that end, Microsoft said it was investigating the potential problem, noting that part of the issue relates to the BIOS. According to a Microsoft spokesman, the appearance of error messages suggesting that users replace a perfectly good battery is likely a BIOS issue and the result of Windows 7 pulling data from the PC's firmware.

Battery drainage complaints in Windows 7 are nothing new and have been noted by users dating back to the OS's beta testing days. The issue is particularly problematic for netbook users.

Image Credit: techtreeblog.com

Wh...what's this? A piece of open-source software from Microsoft that adds speed and portability to the standard Windows 7 installation process? It almost sounds too good to be true, but it's not! There really is such a utility, and it really has been delivered by the Windows 7 manufacturer itself, and it really is open-source!

I might sound a little too excited about this entire concept, but that's just because this tool--the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool--is actually a great replacement for what is otherwise a semi-complex (and hard to remember) series of console commands. If you think I'm exaggerating just for the sake of fashioning up a fun article to read, you're wrong. I couldn't tell you off-hand how to create a bootable USB drive with a preloaded Windows 7 disc. I usually just turn to this series of steps as a general walkthrough.

While the Microsoft tool isn't perfect, in that it won't automatically rip the contents of your Windows 7 CD and fashion a bootable USB key out of that, it's still an awesome way to automate this entire process using a friendly GUI. But don't think that you can just use this tool to make bootable USB keys of any ol' ISO file sitting around on your hard drive. In fact, you can't even rip the Windows 7 DVD and use the subsequent ISO file as the basis of your bootable USB key. Not without some tweaking, that is...

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool has been designed to work with the ISO files of Windows 7 that you download from the Windows Store. Try to use any other ISO and the utility will spit back an annoying error message. That sure doesn't help you if you're trying to make a bootable USB key from, you know, a Windows 7 DVD that you actually purchased. Here's how to fix that. Make your ISO using whatever program suits your fancy, then head on over to Rafael's Within Windows and grab the isoavdcopy tool he's created. Open up a command prompt and run isoavdcopy on your the Windows 7 ISO/rip. Now use that ISO in the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, sit back, and get ready to enjoy your new optical-drive-free life.

Each week, Maximum PC picks a new free or shareware download as its favorite of... the week. Have a nifty application that you can't live without? Twitter David Murphy @acererak with your latest suggestions.