Crypto Word

You might not want all individuals using your computer to easily have access to your documents, notes, or conversations. There’s not really a need to hide them, because you can easily rely on specialized applications like Crypto Word to make text unreadable, at least until the proper decryption code is provided.

It takes a little while before you can check out the application’s set of features. Just to avoid any runtime issues, it’s a good idea to make sure that your computer is fitted with .NET Framework, even though there’s a high chance it’s already there, coming in the default set of features in modern Windows iterations.

The visual design is by your side, helping you get the hang of things in no time at all. Custom-made textures fill in all areas, while the upper toolbar makes it easy to access areas like encryption, decryption, or MD5 converter. Everything is clear enough, and there’s also an info tab to get you out of sticky situations.

The application contains a solid encryption algorithm, but it can only be used with text. What’s more, the target strings either needs to be written down, or pasted from the clipboard, because there’s no load dialog to target even a plain TXT file, let alone export the encrypted form. For the process to be successful, a password also needs to be provided.

Apart from the text encryption option, the application also comes with an MD5 converter. It, too, is related to text, which provides an alternative encryption form. Sadly, the MD5 converter doesn’t let you calculate a file checksum, which leaves much to be desired.

Taking everything into account, Crypto Word is a rather straightforward method of securing your text documents. The visual design is neat, with sound effects for mouse operations, but it could have done more, or at least to provide an option to load existing text files for encryption.