Infineon TPM security platform

Hi there,

I've just bought a new laptop which came with Vista Ultimate. Well, there are millions of little things to learn about Vista (couldn't get XP unfortunately), and I need some info about this Infineon TPM.

For what I understand it is really a security tool for administrators and networked computers, it loads on the tray with every start and wants to be initialized.

Questions: Is it worth having on a single computer? If it is, what exactly can I do with it?

It seems to have a hardware chip. Would uninstalling be problematic?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I have Dell Latitude D820 with TPM (Broadcom manufactured) chip. I don't use that and I have disabled that via BIOS. Dell offer Wave System (http://www.wavesys.com/) program called EMBASSY Trust Suite. I can use fingerprint reader with it, protect files and so on. I have also smart card reader which I thought can be used with that also. Not sure...

After all... I don't use TPM, Fingerprint reader or Smart Card. Too much hashle to me

 

My chip is also disabled. The point is whether the program is worth having for any reasons...

 

Vista built-in encryption (BitLocker)
Trusted Platform Module

 

Thanks Lucas,

basically one can encrypt the laptop drive and keep the the key stored in a chip.
It seems to be very safe in terms of protecting data.

Would you say is it worth going through the procedure (I don't have any skeleton in the closet), as any encryption process may lock the computer to the user as well.

 

If you don't have anything sensitive, don't use encryption. Only you can asses the risks and gains involved with encryption.