Top 5 Reasons to Choose Free Encryption Software

Today, free file encryption software are easily available. Every week or month, new one encryption software comes up and there is no dearth of it. No doubt there is an increasing popularity for encryption software, since it seems to be one of the few sure ways to protect sensitive data. But, the important question here arises as to whether you should choose free encryption software or buy a package?

If you think free encryption software will be lacking in many aspects as compared to the paid one, here are the top 5 reasons why a free utility is better.

1. Its Free, Free and Free: Using free file encryption software offers great economic benefits. You can easily download it from the internet, without paying a penny. There is hardly any harm in using free file encryption software. Although, they might only be available for personal and non-commercial use only.

2. No Updates Required: Since Microsoft withdrew its support from the windows XP, its users have been facing a lot of problems. They are left with two options:  either use the unsupported version or upgrade. This is the problem you are not going to face with free file encryption software. There is no imposed upgrading and you can continue using it as long as you want.

3. It’s equally competitive: If you are of the opinion that free encryption software won’t live up to your expectation since it is free and the developer may not have put much effort? You are wrong. Free file encryption software are as effective as a paid one. The developers develop them with a motto of providing a security system and that more and more people will like and benefit from it.

4. It’s Easy to use: Most of the free software is easy to use with a user friendly interface and features. Using free file encryption software is rather easy as they come with how to use manual or tutorials. You can easily learn how to use the different features. Usually, free encryption software will have encryption and de-encryption feature along with folder lock and data integrity checkers. A more advanced encryption utility may have other additional features.

5. Not bound to any end user license: Unlike propriety software, free file encryption software doesn’t bind you with any end user license. The problem with licensed software is that once you agree with the terms, it gives them the right to inspect your hard drive content without warning. This is a major concern since your computer hold personal information and giving them access to it could be a little bit intimidating. But, with free encryption software, you don’t have worry about the security of your system.

Free File Encryption software is one of the best ways to protect your data without spending any money. They are equally effective in providing the best data encryption experience. It is also easy to switch from one free encryption software to another.

Need more information?   Visit  http://www.filearmour.com/

5 Questions to Ask Before Downloading Encryption Software

Today, more and more people are using encryption software. It’s not just the individuals, but organizations too are using encryption to protect their data from theft and intrusion. With the availability of free file encryption software, you can now easily encrypt files and personal data.

In layman’s term, encryption is a method of converting data into unreadable code that cannot be broken with conventional means. The encryption process uses strong algorithms and key or password to turn your data into encoded information. They are almost impossible to break and have earned the trust of organization from different fields including government and military.

Now, before you jump into the idea and download any free file encryption software from the internet, here are a few questions you need to ask. 

Can it encrypt your hard drive?

One of the easiest ways to protect your entire system from prying eyes is to encrypt the entire system. This way you can not only block anyone from looking into your private data, you altogether block any access to your system. This is one of the important considerations while choosing encryption software. Although, you may not want to encrypt your entire disk for ease of access, having it handy is an advantage.

Can it encrypt individual files?

There are many of you who don’t need to encrypt your entire disk, just a couple of important files. Before you choose encryption software make sure it has the flexibility that allows you to encrypt individual files and documents. Some free file encryption software may have limited features, which only allows users to encrypt entire folder but not individual files. 

Can it encrypt individual folders?

Like files, many users just need encryption software for encrypting individual folders and not in bulk. Before you download free file encryption software, check whether it allows encryption of individual folders or not. Having this feature will allow you to keep your important files inside one folder and encrypt it rather than encrypting the entire disk. 

Does it have strong algorithms?

The effectiveness of the encryption software depends on the types of algorithms it uses. Check whether it has been developed using cryptographic algorithms like AES, Triple DES, RC2 and DES. They are one of the strongest encrypting algorithms and offer optimum data protection. More interestingly, these algorithms are also NSA (National Security Agency) approved. 

Does it have data integrity checker?

The data integrity checker is an important feature of any free file encryption software. Although, it doesn’t not directly prevent any attack from malware programmes, but it can detect any changes that have been made in your system files. A data integrity feature can help raise an alarm. You simply have to check that the stored value matches the present system value. 

File encryption software are an important addition if you want to keep your data secure form theft and intrusion. With free file encryption software, you don’t even have to spend money to get the best protection in the world.

              Visit http://www.filearmour.com/ for free file encryption software.

3 Ways File Encryption Software Keeps Your Data Safe

Data theft and privacy issues have become a major concern for individuals, companies and even government. As the internet has become a major part of people’s life, it has also given the hackers a tool to steal data from unaware individuals. The internet is full of freeware for protecting data and your system. But, somehow the malware find their way into your system. One of the best ways to protect your data today is through file encryption software.

Encryption software uses algorithms and ciphers to change your data into electronic form- into an unreadable state. This data cannot be read without a valid password. Even if the hackers are successful in getting the data or our system, the integrity of the data never gets compromised. With a back-up facility you can easily get your data back.

File encryption software come with different features, but there are 3 features, which stand out the most. 

Strong Algorithms Ensures Iron Clad Protection 

Encryption software uses strong, cryptographic algorithms to encrypt the data, such as AES, Triple DES, RC2 and DES. They are considered very powerful in providing an iron clad protection to your data. Encryption method was earlier used for protecting highly classified government and military data, which were transferred electronically. Since people started sharing personal data over the internet, it became necessary to protect the data. Now, individuals use this programme to encrypt data on their system as well as online.

Some website automatically encrypts your data to provide you with the best protection, online.  One of the simplest ways to check this is by seeing the URL. If it starts with “https" (Hypertext Transmission Protocol), this means it’s secure.

File Integrity Checker to Keep You Alerted

One of the key features of file encryption software is the file integrity checker. Although it doesn’t actually prevent the attack, it can alert the user or the owner of the system about the attack. Malwares like the Trojan have the tendency to work stealthily, without detection. It is one of the most powerful weapons of the hackers. It is powerful enough to make significant changes to the system files, necessary to steal the data. Then it sends back the data to the hackers and leaves your system vulnerable. 

File integrity checker can alert you whenever any programme tries to make any changes to your system data. The timely intervention can save your data from loss. It is wise to choose the file encryption software that comes with this feature.

Customized Encryption of Data for Ease and Safety

Encrypting the entire system or drive can be inconvenient sometimes. So, it is better if you keep all your individual files and folder in one place and encrypt them. Or you can just encrypt individual files. This will ensure that you can access your encrypted files and folders easily without any inconvenience.  Individual folder lock will also allow others to use your systems, without touching your highly sensitive data.

Using file encryption software is the best way to protect your data from intrusion and theft.  It is one of the most highly advanced technologies and it’s free. You can easily download the free encryption software from the internet. 

To know more on file encryption software visit http://www.filearmour.com/

Effectiveness of File Integrity Checker Against Tampering of Data

File integrity checker tool is an important addition to any file encryption software. It can detect any suspicious activity that tries to alter changes to your files, folders or system settings. Now, you might think why you need file integrity checker tool when you already have encryption software to encrypt your data, making it unreadable to anyone who doesn't have the key. It is true that encryption software make your data invisible to outsiders, but when you are using the internet the data stored in your computer might get tampered with.

The Threat That You Can't See

Sometimes when you are working on the internet, some sites may have may run suspicious software. Malicious programs such as the Trojan are frequently used by hackers to steal data from systems or make changes to the system settings. These programs sometimes may go undetected by your antivirus program. Malicious programs work stealthily while you are unaware of its activities. Likewise, when you send your data over the internet through an unsecured channel, how do you know it's not been compromised?  This is where file integrity checker comes to play.

How Does a File Integrity Checker Help You?

A file Integrity checker is a great tool that ensures your data remains unaltered by using an error detection mechanism. Its job is to validate that the integrity of your data has not been compromised. A file Integrity checker tool uses functions known as the hash to perform validation. A hash accepts the content of your data as an input and produces a fixed size output. If your file or data has been compromised, even slightly, the output will be different. This way you can check the value of your data and compare them. Not just that, the tool can detect changes and determine what triggered the changes. This helps individual and organizations in identifying where or what exactly the problem was.

Hash Algorithms That Help Validating Integrity of Files

File integrity checker tool uses various hash algorithms to perform validation of the data. Some of the most used hash algorithms are:

•    MD5: It is a widely used cryptographic hash function producing a 128-bit hash value, typically expressed in text format as a 32 digit hexadecimal number.

•    RIPMED-160: It stands for RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest. RIPEMD-160 is an improved, 160-bit version of the original RIPEMD, and the most common version in the family.

•    SHA-1: SHA-1 is a cryptographic hash function and stands for "secure hash algorithm". SHA-1 produces a 160-bit (20-byte) hash value and is typically rendered as a hexadecimal number, 40 digits long.

•    SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512: These algorithms are part of SHA-2 suite of cryptographic hash functions. They produce hash outputs of sizes indicated by their suffixes.

File integrity checker is an important tool that helps validate data integrity. It may not prevent the changes made by any suspicious program, but timely alert can prevent greater loss of data. When you are choosing file encryption software, make sure the file integrity checker feature is there too.

FileArmour is free file encryption software that enables you to encrypt and decrypt files using time- tested, proven, cryptographically strong encryption algorithms. FileArmour also contains a useful file integrity checker tool. For more information visit: http://www.filearmour.com/