QuickCrypt is a small portable Windows program to encrypt and securely wipe your files, this freeware program is very easy to use, implementing an encryption algorithm that is uncrackable, AES256-bit, if you lose your password there is no way to get your file back. To run QuickCrypt you will need to have Microsoft .NET Framework installed in your computer.
One of its best features is being able to hookup the encrypted file with the computer where it was created by adding a System ID to the encrypted file unique to that computer, this makes it impossible for somebody to decrypt the proprietary .qcf encrypted file unless they are using your own machine. You can also create an automatic .zip file after encryption and add a comment visible to the person decrypting the file, the comment could be a hint to the decryption password or greeting.
Windows file encryption AES256 QuickCrypt
A QuickCrypt feature I have not seen anywhere else is being able to set an expire date to an encrypted file. After setting this up, if a file has not been decrypted within the specified number of days or months, it can no longer be decrypted. There isn’t any technical explanation with QuickCrypt but I am assuming that to accomplish it the decryption program checks for a date in the headers before decrypting the file.
This is a simple but powerful file encryption program. Most useful to send files to your friends via email but they will need to be using the same program to decrypt the data and the password will have to be transmitted in a secure way, not easy to do. You can also use QuickCrypt to wipe files, going into “Tools>Erase Files” opens up a new window where you can drag and drop anything that has to be securely shredded with up to 40 passes.
There are plenty of free file encryption programs out there, my favourite one is 7zip but choices are good and QuickCrypt could be one more option for your cyber arsenal if you trust closed source software and the developer skills of which very little is known.