By PC Guardian
http://www.pcguardian.com/software/email.html
The following are features enabled in the paid version, but disabled in the free version:
EPFF is easy to use. I liked the protected folder manager, because it's easy to get a listing of all your protected folders.
However, the program will not protect your files from an experienced Windows user. It's easy to keep EPFF from launching when Windows starts up, so encrypted files can be copied or deleted. While the Blowfish algorithm is reputable, the 64-bit encryption is not strong enough to defend against a serious attack. I had to search a while for a "log out" button before guessing, (correctly) that it's necessary to close the program to make the files inaccessible. The Help documentation covers this, but none of the pop-up instruction windows explain that you must close the program so protected files are inaccessible.
EPFF has a number of features that are inactive in the freeware version. If you try any of the disabled buttons, you're prompted to buy the commercial version. The limitations of the freeware version (primarily the inability to protect more than 1 folder and the lack of support for removable media) prevent me from recommending the freeware version except to try it out if you're thinking about buying the paid version.
EPFF's installation was a breeze. I was prompted for my username, a 1-24 character password, and 3 questions and answers for password recovery. At each step, EPFF told me why the step was necessary. When the preliminary setup was complete, EPFF gave me a brief overview of the program then generated my keys.
EPFF's main menu window has five buttons:
The Protected Folders button takes you to a user-friendly interface that lets you select folders to add to your "protected" list from a Windows Explorer-like tree hierarchy. From the protected list, you can remove or share a selected folder. I chose to add a folder to my "protected" list, and EPFF showed me its checklist of the procedures it followed to protect my folder. Once the folder was protected, I didn't have to deal with encrypting and decrypting the data. EPFF handled that behind the scenes as long as I was logged in on the program. Users must remember to log off of the program when leaving the computer in order to make the protected folders inaccessible. The full version of the program has a password-protected screen saver that can be set to start when the computer isn't in use.
After the program was installed, the next time I started Windows I was prompted to log in. If you don't log in when you start up the program, you'll have to open the program manually to log in if you want access to your protected files. When you are logged in, you have to close EPFF by right-clicking the system tray icon and selecting "Close" if you want to make your files inaccessible. When you're logged off, part of EPFF continues running in the background to keep other users from accessing or modifying files in your protected folders.
Experienced Windows users can keep EPFF from starting when Windows does. This makes it possible for them to copy or delete your protected files and folders. However, they still can't access the file contents because the files remain encrypted until you log in.
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