Ah ha! Thank you each for the update and help on this!

I certainly don't need a Trojan, can't think of the last time I did.... :-)

Hi FwF, below report from AVG Virus Vault

yes seems the AFKX is randomly generated. tried twice to download to double check, AVG kicked in both times. running AVG Pro

Program version: 7.5.516
Virus base: 269.17.13/1210 Release date: 05/01/2008 11:46

Attribute Name Value
Object name FreewareUpdaterInstall.exe
Object path C:\Documents and Settings\Christory\Desktop\
Discovery Trojan horse PSW.Generic5.AFKX
Date of detection 06/01/2008 17:45:23
Source computer FST-LAP
Finder Christory
File size 553.32 KB (566596 bytes)
Healable No

Source Moved object
Status Infected

FwF, I've found that when googling, you have to "goose" the results. While PSW.Generic5.AFKX doesn't kick out anything, PSW.Generic5 does.
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=PSW.Generic5+

It's possible that the suffix AFKX identifies the spyware that caught it, or is randomly generated by the trojan. FWIW, the limited number of products on that freeware update site struck me as pretty odd. I wouldn't want to put an unknown 3rd party between me and updates piped to my PC.

Meanwhile, on the sub-thread subject of USB drive encryption,

Dekart's products require a user to connect the encrypted device to the host computer while having admin rights one time, after which the USB drive will operate on that computer even if the user doesn't have admin rights. Not really good enough, in my opinion (including detours to look at other USB-drive utilities, it's taken me two hours to learn this, btw -- well-spend afternoon, huh?)

However, for those who don't find this a complete show-stopper, here's more info:
Dekart has a free product "Dekart Private Disk Lite", and the fuller-featured $45 (U.S. $) Dekart Private Disk. Here's a site that has a 20%-off code, making the price $36: http://www.downloadpipe.com/purchase/Dekart-Private-Disk-buy834336.html. All reviewers seem to think very highly of their products and support.

Now I'll look further at the picocrypt product. Thanks again!

Hummm.. I don't seem to find any information on a Trojan named PSW.Generic5.AFKX , at least not using Google...

Not even using AVG's own site to look it up.. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/7/us/frt/0

Nothing, natha , zippo, poofffff.....

Can you provide some more details on that alert??

Warning of Trojan alert with download of Freewareupdater.

when attempting to download this, AVG reports Trojan horse PSW.Generic5.AFKX found.

Thanks, FwF -- I just followed that link, and the first thing I read is "Nowadays computers are becoming increasingly popular..."

Literally LOL, here!

OK, phew, anyhow I'll go look at what they have. Thanks again!

Hello, tmdowling.

I would suggest to you a program called Private Disk. It seems to be just what you're looking for.

http://www.dekart.com/howto/howto_disk_encryption/howto_portable_software/

If you don't care for that one, for some reason, you could always consider PicoCrypt.

http://www.picofactory.com/download/free/software/encryption_decryption/picocrypt

See if you can make use of either one of those encryption methods. If not, let me know, and we'll try something else. :-)

@FreewareFan: Thanks so much for this list. I am really looking forward to switching over to using a thumb drive and portable apps as much as possible, but the one thing that stops me is security. I can't use a thumb drive as my basic file-server until I can encrypt it.

AFAIK, it's still the case that any encryption method available requires the user to have admin rights on the computer he/she's connected to in order to de-crypt the thumb drive. Have you found a work-around for this?

Thanks, haalam. But seeing as how it only handles like 27 apps at this time, I'm going to wait until it gets developed a bit more.

I do appreciate you keeping me in mind, however! :-)

FreewareFan: I just stumbled upon this -- it is new, but thought you might want to check into it.
http://freewareupdater.com/

The author also just released (Jan 4 2008) a similar product for Firefox extension management, but I found no other link other than from CNet.
http://www.download.com/Firefox-Mass-Extensions-Manager/3000-2381_4-10788677.html?tag=pub

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I've posted one of my free lists that you've all come to know me for, so here's one that will make those of you with a pen drive or USB drive looking for portable applications happy. A fairly extensive list, but not all inclusive. And of course, all free of charge! Should be something for everyone here, you only need to travel the road to find what you want. Enjoy the journey! :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_applications
http://loosewire.typepad.com/blog/2005/04/an_updated_dire.html
http://nedwolf.com/Freeware-Portable.htm
http://nothickmanuals.info/doku.php/portableopensource
http://pensuite.wininizio.it/eng/?page_id=15
http://pensuite.wininizio.it/eng/index.php
http://picofactory.com/
http://portableapps.com/
http://tinyinternet.pbwiki.com/
http://users.telenet.be/Robvdb/PortOffExec.htm
http://www.combobulate.com/node/13
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/index.html
http://www.dirk-loss.de/win-tools.htm
http://www.filetransit.com/freeware.php?name=Portable
http://www.freecommander.com/fc_u3_en.htm
http://www.geocities.com/casablanca2000in/msp/
http://www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html
http://www.koolgo.net/content/info.php
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1849710,00.asp
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1676&page=1
http://www.pendriveapps.com/
http://www.portablefreeware.com/
http://www.portablefreeware.com/about.php
http://www.portablefreeware.com/all.php
http://www.portablefreeware.com/faq.php
http://www.psychpage.com/tech/portable.html
http://www.snapfiles.com/features/ed_usb_software.html
http://www.techtastic.ca/articles/portable.html
http://www.theinfobox.com/index.php?title=Essential_Software_Collection
http://www.theinfobox.com/index.php?title=Portable_USB_Apps
http://www.tinyapps.org/
http://www.usbspace.com/
http://www.winpenpack.com/main/news.php
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanb/documents/quotingguide.html