Robert Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I just installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 with Firefox and Thunderbird, then decided to try to encrypt Thunderbird emails for more security in case of computer theft. The next thing I knew, hours passed. So I made a 15 GB Truecrypt folder within MyDocuments, named it EmailTC, mounted it as drive "M", made Thunderbird data, and profile folders (to keep stuff separated) fought with Thunderbird settings for a while, then uninstalled Thunderbird and started all over. During install number two I was careful to have it install the program to drive M instead of C. It seems to have worked. As accounts are made I go into settings to make sure the data folder is on the M drive. The program, profiles, and data all seem to be on the encrypted drive now. With Firefox I figured moving the Profile to the encrypted M drive would be enough. Well, Firefox kept fighting with me in a sort of multiple profile ****, so even after I won that battle I figure it will try to undo it on its own someday. So I deleted all the profiles with the Profile Manager, uninstalled Firefox, then reinstalled the entire program to the M drive ( I never noticed the custom install settings that allow this before). This time I went into the Firefox Profile Manager program immediately with the -p command and made sure the profile was on the M drive. It worked, and Firefox found the old (and empty) profile folder already there instead of trying to install a hidden file on the C drive like it usually does. When the Truecrypt folder is unmounted the Firefox and Thunderbird icons are dead ends. Now if someone steals the computer they will be stuck with Internet Explorer and won't have access to any of my emails or Firefox web browsing history. I also made drive M a Truecrypt favorite and selected it to start with Windows, so after Windows boots up a log-in screen automatically appears. All very simple. Firefox and Thunderbird like to default to the C drive so that's the main thing to be careful of every step of the way, especially whenever a new email account is setup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Super effort sounds like a tricky task. So we all look forward to the seeing the step by step guide with screeshots accompanied by the video with sound. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 Someone with an abundance of patience could turn it into a tutorial. Most of what I was doing was doing it wrong until I figured out through a process of elimination what worked. I thought it was going to be impossible until I gave up trying to make a program installed on the C drive to save data elsewhere. I never noticed before that both Firefox and Thunderbird allow you to pick an install location other than the default. Then everything fell into place. It even tamed the rebellious Firefox Profile -p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Nice work! Now if you add Enigmail extension to TB you will be able to send/receive digitally signed and encrypted emails. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Someone with an abundance of patience could turn it into a tutorial. Most of what I was doing was doing it wrong until I figured out through a process of elimination what worked. See you have patience and persistence already all you need now is to fine tune your procedure for folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 I tried it on another computer. Firefox was already installed so I saved the profile and uninstalled the program. Made a Truecrypt folder, mounted as a drive letter. Installed Firefox to the TC drive. At first launch it installed the profile at the end of a long hidden directory on the C drive. So I uninstalled Firefox. Reinstalled Firefox and upon launching the Firefox Profile Manager program it again auto installed the long hidden directory on the C drive with an empty profile folder. There does not appear to be a way to stop this from happening. So using the profile manager I selected the TC drive as the place to store the profile. I made a folder for it there. Upon first launch of Firefox it populated the profile folder on the TC drive. The C drive got nothing new (that I noticed). Then I exited, manually deleted the contents of the new profile folder (multiple files are in there), but leaving the file folder name intact and thencopied over the files from my original saved profile into this folder. Started Firefox and it used my old profile contents so booksmarks, add ons, etc., were back in place. It appears everything is on the TC drive now, except for the structure of file folders it installed on the C drive, but apparently does not use. This seems like a great way to hide and lockup Firefox. This time the install was easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) Great your refining your technique. Now all you need is a few screenshots and a quick tidy up of the description with a tad more detail and you have a great tutorial. Edited June 9, 2014 by abarbarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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