• Price: Free to try (30-day trial); $29.99 to buy
• Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Me, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
• Date added: March 05, 2009

This program promises top-notch file encryption, but it fails to mention the encryption method it employs. Still, novices will find this a great program for learning about and using file encryption.

Once installed, SafeHouse Personal Edition appears as a completely separate drive on your computer. In that way, it looks and acts like a typical hard-disk interface. Before we could begin, we had to enter a master password to access the program. A very minor trial limitation prevents any password from being more than three characters, but it didn’t affect the program’s performance. Once a volume has been created and opened, you can get in and out of it without a password. But once you close the volume using the appropriate desktop shortcut, you’ll have to use that same password. Important files and folders were easily dragged and dropped into the drive window for safe keeping. The original files were left on our desktop, so they’ll have to be deleted manually, rather than depend on the program to do it. You can use SafeHouse with any type of external hard drive, including USBs.

Help is available through tutorials, but oddly enough, the program never mentions the encryption method it uses. Novices will appreciate this program’s ease of use and 30-day trial, but more experienced users will probably want more control over the encryption process.

Publisher’s description

From PC Dynamics :

SafeHouse provides total privacy and protection for your sensitive files and folders using passwords and strong encryption. SafeHouse features military-strength encryption which is completely transparent to the way you work and is compatible with all Windows applications. This software is amazingly simple to use and works on all drives, including external USB drives, USB memory sticks, network servers and even on CD/DVDs for making secure backups. SafeHouse keeps your confidential files in expandable giant data vaults which can only be accessed after entering your secret password. Your documents, photos, videos, spreadsheets and other files are completely invisible and encrypted once under the total protection offered by SafeHouse. Once SafeHouse accepts your password, your files and folders are fully accessible using a new disk drive letter added to Windows to represent your data vault. SafeHouse can turn a USB memory stick into a virtual smartcard for saving passwords.

Version 3.04 adds SafeHouse Personal Edition strength boosted to 256-bit Twofish and changes to better support creating 2TB volumes.