Kruptos 2 Professional

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on May 22, 2013

If you need a robust security tool, shareware such as Kruptos 2 Professional can handle the job. In addition to strong 256-bit encryption, Kruptos creates encrypted ZIP files and self-extracting files, and it automatically re-encrypts files when you close them so you never have to worry about forgetting to re-secure your protected files. Kruptos 2 Professional does it for under $25; affordable to individuals and a bargain for businesses. You can try the fully-functional Kruptos 2 Professional for free for 30 uses. When the trial expires, you can still decrypt your files with Kruptos. Recent updates include Windows 8 compatibility and two-phase authentication combining a password and keyfile.

A nag screen started counting down our 30 free uses when we opened Kruptos, and a Help file also opened with its Getting Started page displayed. With subtle blue tones and an Office-style Ribbon toolbar, the program's user interface will fit in well in a business environment. Kruptos is quite easy to use: Click Add Files or Add Folders in the Project tab to browse to data to protect. But we did it the easy way by dragging items from the left sideboard's tree view into the main window. You can protect many different items under one password or keyfile, or create separate Projects for different kinds of data. Under Cryptography, we clicked Encrypt and created a password (with hints) in a pop-up tool. Kruptos offers several options, such as the ability to disguise file names. When our files were protected, Kruptos returned a report. We browsed to our encrypted file's location and clicked it. After clicking past the nag screen, we merely had to enter our password to open our file. We could also open multiple encrypted files at once from the main interface, too.

Kruptos 2 Professional stands head and shoulders above the free encryption tools we've tried, though it's every bit as easy to use. If you need more from you security software, give it a try.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Kruptos 2 Professional 3.0.0.27.

Publisher's Description

From Kruptos 2 Software:

Kruptos 2 Professional is a file security program that use 256bit encryption to prevent your private files from being modified, read or even accessed without the correct password. You can password protect any file such as your photos, movies, credit card data, tax returns or any other private file.

The program integrates seamlessly into Microsoft Windows explorer and automatically re-encrypts your files when you're finished editing or viewing them so you don't have to worry about your files ever being left unsecured. Kruptos 2 Professional also allows you to send encrypted emails over the internet, create encrypted ZIP files, create self-extracting encrypted files plus many other useful security additions. Kruptos 2 Professional works under 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and later.

What's new in this version: Version 3.0.0.28: improved data safety by adding extra data integrity checks when encrypting your files, changed the way encrypted filenames are created i.e. file.txt will now become file.txt.k2p, improved performance when encrypting large numbers of files.