MacPaw Encrypto

MacPaw Encrypto is designed to assist users in securing files and directories. No password is stored within the item and, once protected, the only method of unlocking it is by entering the passcode.

The application is highly intuitive and features a very pleasant and efficiency-geared GUI. There are no menus or tabs to confuse users and the only buttons displayed are those that refer to the core program's functions. The dark theme gives the utility a nice look.

There are two ways of loading source items into the application: selecting entire folders or by targeting a specific file. The former option is highly powerful as one could just gather all the desired documents into one place and then just protect that directory!

Loading files can also be performed by the classic drag and drop operation. Regardless of the input method, the next step involves setting a password. Optionally, users can also define a hint; this last step is, however, strongly recommended since the application uses AES-256 encryption which is highly secure, at least for all casual purposes.

There is no way to extract the passkey from a processed file and, similarly, there is no backtracking process (or a “lost my password” option). A well-defined hint is quite vital!

Once all these parameters have been defined, the software will lock the source item and save it to a user-defined destination. The new extension is CRYPTO and attempting to access the document will prompt the user for the password.

A very useful feature is that the software places an “Encrypt/decrypt” link in the context menu. This allows users to quickly lock or unlock items.

To sum up, MacPaw Encrypto is a very good encrypting utility. The locking algorithm relies on very secure methods and the resulting files are almost impregnable.