Thanks for all the replys regarding encryption I have not yet evaluated PGP but i will get around to do it soon as everyone seems to favor this program - for now we have settled for a free utility I got off the Ziff Davis site (www.zdnet.com) it uses a 160 bit encryption key and its very easy to use, its called Cryptext and work with the explorer so to encrypt or decrypt a file or director simply right-click and select encrypt, enter password and Voila I think its great and so far I am happy with it, it can also be downloaded from www.pcug.org.au/~njpayne at the authors webpage Regards Peter Neubert