AES Crypt

AES Crypt is very simple software application that provides you with a convenient method to encrypt files, in order to prevent other users from viewing your private information. It's definitely helpful if you share you personal computer with other people.

The way it works is that, once installed, it integrates a new entry in the Windows Explorer shell extension, thus allowing you to quickly encrypt files (folders are not supported).

By doing so, the tool pops up a small window that asks you to specify a password and confirm it afterward. As the name suggests, it uses the AES encryption algorithm, which is renowned for its security abilities.

The program does not actually password-protect the selected file. Instead, it creates a copy of it, places it in the same location as the original item, and adds the .aes extension as the end of the file name.

The original file can be deleted or backed up to an external, secured disk, while the encrypted copy can be kept on the local hard drive. Anyone who wants to access its contents must know the password set by you. This triggers the reversed procedure for AES Crypt. To be more frank, it recreates the original file in the same location by removing the .aes format and, at the same time, keeps the encrypted one.

An important aspect worth mentioning is that AES Crypt cannot be asked to password-protect multiple selected files, but just one at a time. Moreover, it does not overwrite existing files (pops up an error).

We have not come across any stability issues in our tests, since the app did not freeze, crash or pop up error messages. It has a good response time and encrypts data almost instantly while remaining light on system resources.

To sum it up, AES Crypt may not be as resourceful as other security applications dedicated to file encryption, but it's definitely fast, effective, straightforward and simple-to-use.