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FreeOTFE

By Sarah Dean Free Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

Download.com Staff Feb 4, 2009

Though it took us several visits to the publisher's Web site to figure out how to navigate this program, in the end, it successfully encrypted our files. We just weren't sure that most users would be willing to put forth that much effort trying to get FreeOTFE to work.

At first glance, FreeOTFE's tiny, sparse window looks simple enough, but we were stumped when it came to getting started. The drop-down menu commands were vague and didn't give us any kind of signal about where to go next. Lucky for us, a wizard walked us through the volume creation process. But beyond that, we were lost and had to consult the publisher's Web site throughout our whole testing process, which is never a good sign. After creating the volume, which offered us password protection and a long list of file encryption methods, we had to mount, and eventually format, the volume to create the virtual drive. Once the virtual drive was formatted, we were able to save, and therefore encrypt, our files to the drive. We found it funny that even the publisher seemed to acknowledge that the whole process was confusing, and suggested that most people new to file encryption simply accept the default options.

If all this sounds confusing to you, rest assured it was for us, too. Novices should look for an easier way to encrypt their files. But if you like the idea of creating a virtual disk for file encryption, this program might be worth all the time and fuss.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 5.21

General

Release February 7, 2010
Date Added February 8, 2010
Version 5.21

Operating Systems

Operating Systems Windows 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows XP
Additional Requirements None

Popularity

Total Downloads 12,452
Downloads Last Week 0
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User Reviews

4/5
6 User Votes
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1 Star

Developer's Description

FreeOTFE is a free, open source, "on-the-fly" (OTFE) transparent disk encryption program. Using this software, you can create one or more "virtual disks" on your PC - anything written to which will be automatically, and securely, encrypted before being stored.
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