Protect EXE

Protect EXE is a lightweight application with a pretty self-explanatory name - it allows you to protect executable files with a password.

This kind of software can be of assistance if you share your computer with multiple users since it can help you secure your personal information.

This is a portable product, so installing Protect EXE is not necessary. It means that you can save the tool to a USB flash drive or any other removable device, in order to directly run its executable file on any computer.

The most important aspect is that no leftover files can be found on the hard drive or in the Windows Registry after program removal. Plus, you can always have Protect EXE with you whenever you're on the move.

The interface of the application is based on a standard window with an uncomplicated layout. Opening a file can be done by using only the file browser, since the 'drag and drop' method is not supported. All you have to do is specify a new password for the item, and proceed with the encryption operation. You can make Protect EXE create a backup from the original file.

Protect EXE basically creates a secondary file with the BAK format, which is stored in the same location as the original item. However, Protect EXE popped up an error notification when we attempted to restore backups during our evaluation; we were not able to remove the password restriction from the files afterward.

The lightweight tool does not put a strain on the computer's resources, as it uses a low amount of CPU and system memory. However, since it has not been updated for a very long time, Protect EXE comes with bugs and issues. Unfortunately, other similar apps are more powerful than Protect EXE.