Msg: Solved: a Windows 7 question re 'encryption key'

Installing Dropbox on my computer seems to be what triggered the MS prompt to back up my encryption key.

I had downloaded and installed Dropbox the night before the prompt began appearing every time I started the computer. Yesterday, I took Dropbox out of my startup directory -- and the 'back up your encryption key' prompt at start up immediately disappeared.

Worth noting: Although Dropbox offers the option to encrypt files, I had not checked that option. Apparently, that made no difference to Windows 7.

On Wed, Nov 18, 2015 at 9:26 AM, Lynn Brenner mailto:lynn.brenner.nyc@xxxxxxxx wrote:

I recently installed Windows 7 32-bit on my machine - a clean install. This morning when I booted up the computer, for the first time I got a message telling me to back up my encryption key and certificate or risk losing access top my encrypted files - startling, to say the least, since I haven't encrypted anything and don't want to encrypt anything.

Searching on Google, I'm not alone in having this problem, but no explanation. I followed one piece of advice and pasting this command into the C:\prompt to get a list of encrypted files on my computer:

cipher /U /N /H > %UserProfile%\Desktop\Encrypted-Files.txt

I got the reply: Access denied.

Any explanation or suggestions?

Lynn