Speedcrypt

There are more than a few avenues you can take to protect important data. If it’s a drive you keep personal files on, then encrypting it with the built-in BitLocker is not a bad idea. When it comes to individual files or folders, however, there are a couple of paths to consider.

You can archive and encrypt it with a password through various archiving solutions, which should serve you quite well. For something more advanced, Speedcrypt is a heavy-duty piece of software for your encryption needs: protect important data behind the secure algorithms of a tool that implements various tried-and-tested cryptographic techniques.

The program’s goal is to offer users a quick way to encrypt any files of interest. To do so, the typical workflow should be straightforward enough for all users: select your data, proceed with generating a password, and that’s about it for securing your files.

I found the password generator to be particularly interesting. It can generate passwords that cannot be brute forced in a reasonable amount of time, and in the process, the app also generates a PIN for an extra layer of security for your data.

The details about generated passwords were also appreciated, as they provided information on the approximate time it would take to crack them, as well as their entropy score.

Users who don’t want to delve into customizing their software do not need to do so. The default configuration should suffice for most, but if you’re curious, there are various options to consider.

Three cryptographic engines are available, but whatever security differences there are between them, they’re likely negligible: AESGCM, AESRIJNDAEL, and PGP are your options. Attached to an encryption method is also a string encryption mechanism, of which there are four to choose from: CHACHA20 is the default option, but you can opt for AES instead if that's what you prefer.

There are also three compression algorithms to choose from: BZip2, GZip, and Zip. You can run compression tests to see which works best on your system, but once again, the default BZip2 should serve you well enough.

Speedcrypt is a useful piece of software for anyone looking to protect their files and folders. Though its interface may seem a little busy at first, the program isn’t difficult to maneuver after a bit of time with it.