Q:

Portable encryption for USB flash drives

I believe this is a more specific question than Alternatives to TrueCrypt? with different answers.
I have USB flash drives which I carry around and use on various computers at work and at home. I would also like to be able to use this on computers belonging to friends and on public computers where I don't have administrator rights and/or cannot install software.
Operating systems I would like to be able to use would include:

Windows 7 starter edition 32-bit
Windows 7 home premium 64-bit
Windows Vista 32-bit

And other popular variants of Windows (perhaps even some old Windows XP variations)
The content might include photos or other personal data that I would like to be protected in case I lose the USB flash drive (e.g. by dropping it, not by leaving it in a computer - I suspect the latter is too difficult to defend against).
I have tried U3 and TrueCrypt. I believe U3 encryption is easily circumvented and there are clearly some concerns currently about TrueCrypt. I worry that FreeOTFE appears to have been abandoned by its authors and its website taken over by spammers. Bitlocker-To-Go seems to be read-only or unavailable for the operating systems I am interested in.

A:

One solution that would work on Windows is SecurStick. Don't let the German website scare you, the actual program will be English (except on German and Italian Windows installations, where it will be German or Italian, respectively).
Biggest pro: All you need is a Windows PC and a web browser. Caveat: Windows won't know how large your drive is and assume it is the same size as C.
There are also Linux and MacOS versions, but I have not tried them, so I can't recommend them.

A:

In the free arena, Veracrypt is still an excellent choice and is being maintained with both patches and improvements, and is cross-platform.
In the paid area, software like Checkpoint can do (for Windows, at least) what you want - including software on the USB drive that can both use Active Directory integration or a password entered when the drive is encrypted, and that software can be run on any other Windows machine (even ones without Checkpoint installed).
Definitely do not use Truecrypt - it has escalation of privilege vulnerabilities.

