Encryption

CrococryptMirror Portable

• Free

CrococryptMirror is a rather useful and easy to use portable encryption application tool. CrococryptMirror can easily encrypt your important and confidential directories with ease and mixes high grade encryption with simple but extremely effective processes. The software works by mirroring the content of the folders you want to encrypt into an encoded container, which can then only be decrypted by using the CrococryptMirror tool, which is password protected. As well as being very secure, this also means you can effectively hide encrypted folders and data in plain sight from prying eyes. Additionally, a ZIP compression for storage space optimization is used. Mirroring can either be done manually (on-demand) or by using the included sync service which detects directory changes on the fly. As you would expect from an an encryption tool, the encryption protocols are high end, using both AES and Twofish (256 bits, cascading) algorithms. The keyfile is secured by a password of your choice, using PKCS #5 (PBKDF2) with a SHA512/Whirlpool based HMAC using 100000 iterations and also AES and Twofish. Basically, that means it's secure. We would advise against using ‘Password.’ ‘12345’ or ‘[insert child’s name here]’ as your password though. You still need to have a good password to get the most out of Crococrypt. But, as an extra layer of security, your encrypted files can only be accessed using the Crococrypt software. For anyone who just read that and went, ‘huh, what?’ CrococryptMirror is very good at securing your data and is next to impossible to hack, crack and/or steal it. It’s also easy to use. Key Features: Copying and synchronizing of files/folders/directories (recursively) to encrypted folders. AES and Twofish (256 bits, cascading) encryption protocols. Encryption of filenames. Source folders can be stored in multiple destination containers at the same time (e.g., USB disk drive and Cloud storage). Master password protected. Network drives can be used as sources and destinations. Explorer view to read encrypted containers. This version of CrococryptMirror is portable, which means not only can you carry it around on a USB stick or on your phone, etc, it doesn’t need to be installed, and can be launched from whatever media you have it stored on. You can also store and use CrococryptMirror from a network drive or cloud storage. CrococryptMirror is also 100% Freeware without a catch, and there’s no registration, activation, trial period, or adverts and it has no limitations. It’s also really good at what it does; and by that we don’t mean it’s good because it’s free, we just mean it’s good.

Safeplicity

• Trial version

Safeplicity is a really useful tool that is deal for anyone who has sensitive files, which they would like to password-protect but don't know how. With Safeplicity, you can password-protect and encrypt all your confidential files in just a few clicks, without advanced IT skills. Key Features include: 256bit AES encryption. Windows Explorer integration. Automatic locking. Protect entire folder structure. With Safeplicity, you can password-protect and encrypt your confidential data in just a few clicks. To protect a folder, you simply right click on it, select ‘Protect with Password’ and then choose a password. From then onwards, whenever you try to open the folder via Windows Explorer, you will be asked for a password. Your folders are protected immediately, without any delay, while in the background your data is being encrypted. There is also a ‘Protect and Hide’ option to choose from as well. This feature makes your folder, not only password protected, but completely invisible. In case you are concerned about losing your password, there are also some optional password reminders to give you an additional piece of mind. Overall, Safeplicity has rock-solid security, with AES 256bit encryption. All data is encrypted, and passwords are never stored on your PC. As the interface is integrated into Windows Explorer it is very easy to navigate. It is lightweight , easy to use and can be navigated by all.

SensiGuard

• Trial version

SensiGuard is a quick and easy way to protect your files and folders on your PC and USB flash drives. SensiGuard provides strong file and folder encryption, using powerful 256-bit AES encryption. Upon running the app for the first time, a simple wizard appears that asks you to set up your master password. You also select and answer three challenge questions as well. After that you are all good to go. The interface is based on a standard windows explorer style, and is very easy to use. Advanced 256-bit AES encryption. Instant file/folder locking capability. Identity fraud prevention. Automatic file compression for encrypted files. File shredding. Supports flash drive password protection. Overall, SensiGuard is user-friendly, lightweight and extremely easy to use. It doesn’t do a bad job, however, it’s not as advanced as some enterprise-level encryption software, but for home use it's ok.

GiliSoft Secure Disc Creator

• Trial version

GiliSoft Secure Disc Creator is a CD/DVD encryption app that can create encrypted image files, virtual discs and can burn encrypted CD/DVDs. Key Features include: Create Encrypted CD and DVD. Create Encrypted ISO Image File. Password Protect CD & DVD. Sector-based Encryption. Automatic Transparent Encryption. Hide Files and Folders on CD & DVD. Build-in CD & DVD Burne. Supports Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista or Windows 7. The app’s interface is based upon a familiar, standard explorer style, and most users will find no difficulty in navigating the software. The main window consists of a small drop down area, where you can choose the ‘Recorder’ (the DVD or CD drive) which will burn your images. If more than one drive is located on your system, you can select it from here. Underneath this, is the Disc Information area. This shows you what type of disc is present in the selected drive and its capacity. Next up, you need to add your content to the disc. This is done via the Add File button. When you have selected the files which you want to add to the secure disc, the field below can be populated with the name of the disc. There is also a pie chart that displays information regarding the size of the files added and the size of the burnable disc inserted into the recorder. Once you are happy with all the data, simply hit the Burn button located at the bottom of the window to start the session. Overall, GiliSoft Secure Disc Creator is lightweight, has a small footprint and has some good features. If you need a standard, bare bones tool that can create a secure data backup on CD or DVD, or create secure ISO image discs or self-expanding archives, then GiliSoft Secure Disc Creator maybe what you are looking for?

PGP Tool

• Free

Secure Your Data with PGP Tool for Windows

PDF Page Lock

• Free

PDF Page Lock enables users to lock or hide selected pages of a PDF document with a password. With PDF Page Lock, users could hide or lock selected pages of a PDF file while leaving all other pages available. Features include: Password Encryption 1-Click Unlock Hide PDF Pages AES-256 encryption algorithm The document in whole remains accessible on any computer, while the locked pages become protected. Hide or lock confidential pages of your PDF documents whilst leaving required pages open and available.

Top Data Protector

• Free

Free folder protector for Windows

Encrypt Easy

• Trial version

How To Protect Your Identity By Installing Encrypt Easy

File Encryption XP

• Trial version

File Encryption XP (eXtra Protection) is a small, lightweight security encryption utility that has been designed to protect confidential information stored on your PC. File Encryption XP allow you to encrypt files of any type and format, including Microsoft Office documents, movie clips, images, PDFs etc. The app protects your data against viewing and modification without your explicit authorization. Key Features include: Blowfish algorithm encryption. File decryption. Compression prior to encryption. Create self-extracting encrypted files. File Shredder. Support for large files (4Gb and above). Windows Explorer integration. Built-in customizable password generator. Create log files. Automatically locate and group encrypted files. Auto save user settings. Choice of skins. Highly customizable interface. The app uses an ultra-secure Blowfish algorithm for data encryption, and no encryption passwords are saved within the encrypted files. This, in turn ensures that the encryption is as secure as possible. File Encryption XP has a standard explorer style interface that is easy to navigate, and users of all levels of expertise will be able to operate the app without any issues. This is a 30 day trial.

GiliSoft CD DVD Encryption

• Trial version

If you keep your backup data or personal files on DVDs or CDs, then it is always a good idea to ensure the data is protected with either a password or some form of data encryption. GiliSoft CD/DVD Encryption is a simple tool that lets you create encrypted CDs or DVDs by adding password protection to them during the burning process. Key Features include: Fully encrypt your CDs & DVDs Password protect CDs and DVDs Secure Your CD/DVD data GiliSoft CD/DVD Encryption has been designed to work alongside your current CD/DVD burning software. It does not require a specific set-up process and you can begin encrypting your data in a few clicks. In fact, to get started you simply need to click on the “Enable burning encryption’ option, located in the system tray icon. When you need to view the data on your encrypted discs, just navigate to the app and hit the “Decrypt encrypted disc” button and it will decrypt the disc. Overall, GiliSoft CD/DVD Encryption gives you a reliable way to create encrypted discs. It is lightweight, it has a small footprint and is very simple to use.

FlashCrypt

• Free

Kruptos 2 Professional

• Trial version

Kruptos 2 Professional is a solid security app for Windows that uses military graded 256bit AES encryption in order to prevent your data from being accessed or modified without the correct password. With Kruptos 2 Professional you can password protect any file on your system, including photos, movies, credit card data, and private documents. As Kruptos 2 Professional integrates with Microsoft Windows Explorer, it can automatically re-encrypt your files when you have finished viewing or editing them. This removes any possibility of human error, and you don't have to worry about your files becoming unsecured. Key Features include: 256 bit AES encryption. Cloud integration. Auto encryption. Microsoft Windows Explorer integration. File shredder. Self-extracting files. Encrypted email attachments. The app’s interface is both fresh and modern. Due to the Explorer-based layout, you are able to locate files easily and choose which ones you want to encrypt. You can use either the file browser or folder view to add files. Unfortunately drag and drop is not supported. Apart from being able to encrypt files locally, you can also send encrypted emails, create encrypted ZIP files, and create self-extracting encrypted files. With the ability to encrypt and share your data via cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive, Kruptos 2 Professional gives you a good array of security solutions, which allow you to protect and backup your data.

iBeesoft File Shredder

• Trial version

iBeesoft File Shredder gives you an easy and secure way to erase data, permanently wipe disk or shred data, and irreversibly remove sensitive data. It provides powerful protection for all your important information and privacy. It can permanently erase any file from hard drive, USB drive, memory card, digital camera, SD card or other drive. It can permanently destroy & erase selected data, leaving no chance for data recovery, without affecting the service life of the device. Key Features include: File Shredder Permanently shred and delete unnecessary files from your computer beyond recovery. Hard Drive Wiper Non-Destructive wipe all existing and history data on HDD and SSD to improve the reading speed. Partition/Volume Wiper Wipe selected partition and volume to improve performance, don’t affect the reuse of them. External Drives Wiper Fast and safe wipe unwanted data form memory card, USB drives, SD card, digital camera etc. With iBeesoft FileShredder you can reclaim space by deleting unnecessary files and redundant files from HDD, SSD, Computers,USB, memory card, digital camera, external hard drive, etc. to improve computer or storage device performance. iBeesoft say that the File Shredder can shred all types of files such as pictures, documents, videos, audio, archives, emails, etc. and it supports FAT 12/16/32, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ext2, ext3, HFS+

Password Manager XP

• Trial version

Password Manager XP is a handy little tool that lets you create secure, encrypted databases to store information in. Each database can be given an access password and is encrypted with various algorithms simultaneously. In addition to database creation, you can also designate the level of encryption to protect your database. You are able to configure certain parameters too, for instance you can choose concurrent write access, remember data sort order, and override global automatic closure timeout etc. Password Manager XP also allows you to set a customized backup option as well. Password Manager XP supports the following algorithms: Encryption algorithm: 3DES,Blowfish, Cast128, RC4, Rijndael (new AES), Serpent, Tea, Twofish. Hash algorithm used to generate encryption key: SHA, SHA-384, MD5, SHA-512, SHA-256, SHA-256, MD5, SHA-256. Encryption key length: 160 bit, 384 bit, 128 bit, 512 bit, 256 bit, 256 bit,128 bit, 256 bit. Password Manager XP has a standard user interface is fairly basic; some menu and shortcut commands at the top of the window. From here you can create and save databases, assign them passwords and add files and folders. Below this is the tree menu, which can display all of the created databases. Once your database has been created, you can add a new record by populating the general attribute fields, such as title, user name, account, URL, password etc. Overall, Password Manager XP can be navigated by all users, due to the standard interface. It has a small footprint and uses a tiny amount of your system resources. It also comes with a complete help file, including guidelines and snapshots to help you in case you get stuck.

Encrypt Care

• Free

Encrypt Care is an easy to use, but powerful encryption app, which gives you the power to encrypt or decrypt text and files in batch mode, and generate, verify and export checksums. Encrypt Care uses powerful encryption algorithms to protect your data. The interface is easy to navigate and quite user friendly, with drag and drop support for easily adding files for encryption. Simply enter your chosen password, select your destination folder and begin the encryption process. With Encrypt Care you can perform multiple tasks with checksums, including generating a checksum of any text or file, export checksums to .TXT file or copy to clipboard. You can also generate hash for multiple files, and verify checksums as well. Key Features include: Encrypt and decrypt text and messages. Encrypt and decrypt files photos, documents, and apps. Generate and verify checksum of text and file. Generate and export checksums for multiple files. Supports various algorithms such as AES, Blowfish, CAST, DES, IDEA, RC2, RC4, TEA. Supports various hashes including MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512. Small footprint. Supports Unicode characters. Supports batch processing. Overall, Encrypt Care is a good, all round encryption solution. It is an easy to use, yet powerful app that will protect the contents of your files and encrypt your text messages. The only downside we could find is that you are not able to set a master password that can be used for all encryptions. However, with some useful tools such as batch mode and checksum verification, Encrypt Care is a handy utility to own.

Advanced File Locker

• Trial version

Advanced File Locker: Lock and Hide Files on Your PC

Kaspersky Password Manager

• Free

Kaspersky Password Manager is able to securely store your passwords, addresses & banking details, and can then synchronize them across your various devices, whether that be PC, Mac, Android phone & tablet, or iPhone & iPad. The app is really easy to setup and use; just install it, and run through a quick process to choose a master password. Next, you need to access the websites that have your login details, which you want the utility to remember. Now you need to populate the database with the required login details. This is then stored and encrypted and on your return visit, the website user name and password will be completed automatically by Kaspersky Password Manager. Kaspersky Password Manager will also automatically populate any needed web forms with your details. In addition Kaspersky Password Manager has a password generator* tool that automatically creates strong passwords for you. Overall, the app is a great tool that saves all your login user names and passwords into one database**, so you don’t have to remember them all. Kaspersky’s Password Manager is easy to use, lightweight, has virtually no system impact and is very secure. *Passwords are generated on your PC – and can then be used on any of the supported devices. **Kaspersky Password Manager gives you a choice of free or premium versions of the app. The free version will allow you to store fifteen account passwords, addresses or bank card details. However, if you want to manage more items, you can upgrade to the premium version that will allow you to store and manage an unlimited number of passwords, addresses and bank card details.

SafeHouse Personal Edition

• Trial version

SafeHouse Personal Edition is a great tool to keep your data private by creating virtual storage volumes to keep nearly all your files and folders safe and hidden away from prying eyes. After installation you simply create a virtual storage volume. This is an easy affair consisting of creating a master password (which you need to remember), along with volume specific attributes, such as size etc. The virtual storage volume is then created and saved to a custom location on your computer, and any data held within it is unable to be accessed by anyone who doesn’t have the password. Key Features include: 256-bit Twofish advanced encryption. Fully-integrated with Windows Explorer. Compatible with Microsoft Office. Hides, locks and encrypts all documents, spreadsheets, photos, and video files. Unlimited number of private storage vaults as large as 2,000 Gigabytes each. System tray icon provides one-click access to all of your protected files. Graphical password strength meter. Virtual smart-card option. SafeHouse Personal Edition does have a few good qualities, though, and is ideally suited to those users who are concerned about their data being accessed locally. It is designed for personal use, and has the advantages of being relatively simple to use. If you don't require ultra-strength encryption, or multi-level administration, and you don’t need advanced smart-card support, then this could be something you may want to try out. Overall, SafeHouse Personal Edition does a good job at encrypting your data using strong methods. However, the lack of a self-extracting file system, a digital shredder and no way to easily send encrypted files to people without them having SafeHouse software installed, makes this particular security app one for an acquired taste.

Codify

• Free

Codify is a lightweight encryption app that lets you create, edit and encrypt text easy and fast. The recipient of any encrypted messages needs to have a working version of Codify, and the password* to decrypt the message. Codify provides a good way to secure your data by encrypting it and making sure it cannot be seen by anyone except yourself, or the intended recipient. The app lets you encrypt unlimited file, such as MS Word or PDF documents, and you can also secure email attachments as well. Using Codify is very easy; simply choose the text, or a file, that you want to encrypt, and choose the password you want use for encrypting that data. If you want to, you can choose from a list of passwords. Overall, Codify is a simple, lightweight text encryption app that does exactly what it says on the tin. It is easy to use, and has a simple, single-windowed interface to work from and it uses hardly any system resources. The only downside that we can see is using the app on a shared computer, as any user would be able to access the password list as it has no restrictions. *Codify uses the AES-256 encryption algorithm to securely store your passwords.

Gpg4win

• Free

Gpg4win: A Free Security Program for Windows