Cobbler

Not everything you store on a personal computer is safe. In fact, an Internet connection is the first step into exposing everything. However, you can take action and attempt to protect important bits of information. In this regard, Cobbler comes as a pretty lightweight application but which can your notes in a secure database.

One of the main advantages here is that the application doesn’t take you through a setup process to make things work, so you can try it out from the moment download is done. As such, it’s also possible to have it stored and used directly from a USB flash drive so that important info is with you at all times.

The first time you run the application you need to configure a master password so that only you have access to the database later on. Be careful not to lose it, because it’s your only way of accessing stored data, and there’s also no method of changing the password from within the program.

As far as the interface is concerned, the application keeps things quite simple, with most of the space representing the edit area, and an upper toolbar which holds all functions you work with. The status bar is also used here, showing the save status, date, database filename and size.

Unfortunately, input can only come from the clipboard or instant input of characters. It would have been useful to at least be able to load TXT files. What’s more, only one database file can be created, which means all text goes inside a single instance.

On the other hand, there is a search field which neatly highlights the requested string. You can disable editing to prevent accidental modifications of content. If you want to back up the database file, a function can take you to its location.

All things considered, we can state that Cobbler is a lightweight tool which can keep your notes protected. It uses the AES128 algorithm to encrypt any text you provide, but it feels a little rough around the edges overall.