This simplifies the process if you later need to remove access. Encryption takes your data stored on the computer and scrambles the information based upon an encryption key. This key acts as your password, and the considerations above should be used. A variety of encryption programs are available, including shareware and commercial programs. Using encryption provides a level of security beyond that of the operating system and program passwords, since this is protecting your data directly.
Backups provide security in the event of a computer crash or loss of the physical asset.
In addition to performing frequent backups, it is important you test the backups. To test backups, to try restoring the data on your machine, normally to a different folder or directory. You should also attempt restoring the data to a different computer. Here it is important the two computers use similar storage media and similar programs. If your computer is unavailable, that can be partially remedied with a solid backup, or it can become a disaster if you then discover you are unable to restore on a different machine.