best free encryption software for a laptop

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP MAC OS#
#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP INSTALL#
#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP ARCHIVE#
#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP PRO#
#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP PASSWORD#

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP INSTALL#

To get started, install Gpg4win and make sure to install the GPA (GNU Privacy Assistant) sub-module during the setup. However, for the sake of simplicity, this discussion focuses on just the file encryption part. It lets you secure not just your data, but also email, and then some more. Essentially, Gpg4win is a Windows-based graphical front end of the OpenPGP encryption standard which was originally developed for Linux. It’s not exactly the most straightforward thing to use, but once you get a hang of Gpg4win, you’re going to love the truckload of options this powerhouse encryption software offers on Windows.

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP PRO#

Platform Availability: Windows Vista, 7 – Enterprise and Ultimate editions Windows 8 and 8.1 – Enterprise and Pro editions Windows 10– Pro, Enterprise and Education editions. To sum up, BitLocker has gone through many improvements over the past few years and now it’s among the best encryption tool for Windows.

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP PASSWORD#

The best part is that since BitLocker is deeply integrated with Windows, you can enable a user password for even loading the bootloader during the initial bootup. And using the BitLocker To Go option, you can even encrypt USB flash drives. This password also acts as the recovery/authentication key if the encrypted drive is moved to another system, in order to establish data integrity. USB drive, Microsoft account), or even printed. The encrypted disk is secured via a user-specified password, which can be saved to numerous locations (e.g.

It utilizes the AES encryption algorithm (defaults to a 128-bit key length), in conjunction with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) specification to encrypt disk volumes.īitLocker Drive Encryption can be enabled from System and Security available under the Control Panel. Built right into (some of) the latest editions of Windows, BitLocker Drive Encryption lets you protect entire disk volumes in a few clicks. Want solid encryption features but don’t want to bother installing yet another application for that? Not a problem, as BitLocker has you covered.

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP MAC OS#

Platform Availability: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (Desktop) Simply put, 7-Zip may not be as advanced as VeraCrypt but it’s a useful utility for quickly creating encrypted files on Windows. compression method, volume splitting), and of course the encryption password and method (defaults to AES-256, the only available option), hit the OK button. After specifying the necessary parameters (e.g.

#BEST FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE FOR A LAPTOP ARCHIVE#

Simply launch 7-Zip, and add the files/folders you want to encrypt to a new archive (Note that only 7z and zip formats support encryption). Basically, you are getting powerful encryption in the form of a password-protected archive and without any charge.Ĭreating encrypted archives on 7-Zip is a cakewalk. Keep in mind, this is not a standard password lock but a truly encrypted system that deploys a strong 256-bit key length for maximum protection. Essentially, 7-Zip can be used to create password-protected archives, which are further secured with the AES-256 encryption standard. You may know 7-Zip as the tiny yet powerful free archival program that supports a ridiculous number of formats, but it also has some sweet encryption goodness built into it, and that’s why 7-Zip is ranked among the best encryption software for Windows. So not only your built-in storage but also the external storage solutions are encrypted and safe. VeraCrypt supports industry-standard encryption algorithms, such as AES, Serpent, Twofish, SHA-2 and can even employ more than one of them in cascading mode.Īnother good thing about VeraCrypt is that you can also use to encrypt your USB devices. Any data moved/copied to an encrypted volume is automatically encrypted as well. Once an encrypted volume has been created, it must be always mounted first (on any of the available mount points) through VeraCrypt, after supplying the password and keyfile (if used) to access the data stored on it.

For additional security, you can specify a password, as well as a keyfile (any random file of your choice that acts as an additional authenticator). To start off, you specify the details regarding the encrypted volume to be created, such as volume size, save location, as well as the encryption and hashing algorithms to be used. Further, now with the latest release, you can also encrypt folders and files by mounting the encrypted data to a disk volume. It essentially works by creating password-protected encrypted volumes, but can also encrypt entire disk partitions, including the system partition, and even the entire hard drive. It’s considered as one of the best encryption software across Windows, Linux, and macOS. Based on TrueCrypt, the hugely popular encryption program, VeraCrypt provides top-grade encryption for your data.

Best free encryption software for a laptop