If you are interested in security for your laptop (and who isn’t), TrueCrypt 4.0 has been released. TrueCrypt is free/open-source encryption software for Linux and Windows 2000, XP, 2003.
Among the features:
* It can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as a real disk.
* It can encrypt an entire hard disk partition or a device, such as USB memory stick, floppy disk, etc.
* Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
- 1) Hidden volume (more information may be found here).
2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (TrueCrypt volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).
* Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent (256-bit key), Triple DES, and Twofish (256-bit key). Supports cascading (e.g., AES-Twofish-Serpent).
* Based on Encryption for the Masses (E4M) 2.02a, which was conceived in 1997.
You can read about the changes in 4.0 here.