After that, it's a question of protecting the data and rendering the computer useless in case someone walks off with it while your back is turned at Starbucks.

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Dell are in trouble, and it is becoming increasingly clear that laptops, tablets, and smartphones are gradually rendering the desktop computer obsolete.

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With conventional 3-D graphics, the computer generates and stores data rendering the depth, shape, color, and texture of the entire house -- including walls, windows and doors that are out of sight.

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Many observers have suggested defensive techniques that deploy TrueCrypt disk encryption with hidden volume partitions or PGP Whole Disk Encryption rendering the entire computer unbootable thereby making even file time and date stamps unavailable.

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Meanwhile, the rendering engine resides in a special space that controls what resources within the computer can be read or written to.

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