Abylon Reader for Windows

PC security is more important than ever, and a growing number of software makers and PC users are employing encryption, digital certificates, and other means of verifying the authenticity of files and programs. Security software maker Abylon's Reader is a free Explorer plug-in that can verify, decrypt, and unpack a wide range of signed and encrypted files, including CR2, CRP, PK7, P7M, and VSP7 files. It also offers secure delete, a certificates manager, a tool for creating your own certificates, and smart card support, all directly from context menus in Windows.

Reader opened with a test certificate included for verifying that the plug-in was working. While we regard shell menu integration as a major advantage with tools like Abylon Reader, and it's enabled by default, we could also deselect the option from the program's settings, which we opened by right-clicking the program's Manager icon in the system tray. Reader offers a fully indexed Help file, but nearly every feature or setting also has a clear explanation of what it does. We defined a default encryption system for newly created keys, which offered an asymmetrical hybrid option that requires a certificate and is recommended for companies, and configured other options like wipe level and the ability to create backups of keys. Next we opened the Selfcert tool, which let us create our own digital certificate, including RSA key, Alias, and Serial Number. The Certmanager certificates manager let us import or create certificates from the interface. We could also lock and unlock our PC from Reader's menu. Clicking on the system tray icon also opened a semitransparent, ribbonlike interface giving quick desktop access to Reader's features and settings.

That you can select Abylon Reader's useful suite of tools by right-clicking a file or folder in Explorer, by clicking the program's system tray icon, or by opening its customizable, draggable desktop toolbar sets it apart from similar programs. However, it's Abylon's robust decryption, verification, and certificate management capabilities that make Reader such a great choice.