Intro:
With the amount of spyware and malicious scripts floating around anybody that keeps sensitive materials on their system never can be too careful. I'd like to show you some tweaks that you should be using to help keep your data a bit safer than on default machines. The other part that I'll be looking into is pure paranoia! Everybody's out to get you, don't let your computer transmit data ANYWHERE without you telling it to.

This guide is intended for all of the people who believe tinfoil hats are fashionable. 99.5% of the people out there won't need or want these tweaks. We're not geeks REALLY! I like the way my hat makes me feel.... It makes me feel sexy AND secure.

This is now the second posting of this article. I'm sure It'll continue to see revisions in the months to come as I come up with more things to add to both this guide and our application. If you have any suggestions please select feedback from the dropdown below and post a message in the forum. I'm always looking for more things to include in this guide and also our Security Tweaking Application.

Too Lazy to Tweak the Registry?

We've also built an application to help you change all of the settings talked about in this article. IANAG Security Tweaking Program It's an ongoing project to help you guys with all of your security and paranoid needs.

July 8 Updates:
* Included a bit about the security app
* Expanded the explanations of everything
* Added Additional Tips

Passwords:

I suggest doing a number of password related tweaks. It's very important to use alphanumeric passwords and NOT store your passwords anywhere on your system.

Disable Storage of Credentials and .NET Passwords
This is primarily .NET passwords but it also stores passwords for network drives, websites and other applications.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"DisableDomainCreds"="1"

Prompt for Password when coming back from Standby
Every time you come back from hibernation or Suspend mode you'll have to enter a password to regain access to your computer. This is for all of those people that walk away from their computer for a while without logging off first.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Power]
"PromptPasswordOnResume"="1"