Fort

Privacy protection is important to any computer user, and when it comes to securing sensitive digital files, there are various free and paid encryption solutions you can choose from. Fort is an interesting alternative to other data protection tools, enabling you to secure files using the 256bit keys AES protocol.

Encrypt and decrypt files from the context menu

Fort is easily deployed on the target PC but note that it does not feature a standard interface. To be more specific, it installs as a shell extension in Windows, allowing you to launch it via the context menu.
In other words, to encrypt a file with Fort, you must right-click on it and choose the designated option. A small window is displayed where you can enter the desired passphrase, which Fort will associate to your file, making it impossible to access by those who don't know the correct password. As you type it, Fort evaluates the password strength.
Decrypting a file with Fort is done in a similar way, via the right-click menu. You are prompted to enter the passphrase, and the original file is then restored. The advantage of Fort is that it can check whether the data inside the protected file has been modified in any way, thanks to the initialization vector that is generated upon encryption and which can be used only once.

Built-in virtual keyboard and password strength evaluation

To make sure the passphrase cannot be captured, Fort comes with an integrated virtual keyboard you can use to type in the password. And if you really want to be thorough when it comes to encrypting your files, you can instruct Fort not to allow passphrases that are considered unsecure.
By default, Fort is configured to automatically create a backup of the original file before encryption but you can change this in the 'Settings' window. With this option enabled, a copy of the original file is created in the same location as the encrypted file.

Good encryption tool that can be enhanced even further

Fort is easy to install and use, making file encryption just a matter of a few clicks. It does not offer alternatives as far as the encryption protocol is concerned, but its choice (256bit AES) is satisfying to most users.
Since the strength of the input passphrase is assessed by Fort, it would be convenient to have an integrated password generator that can help users create a secure key. Furthermore, Fort would become a more efficient tool if it could encrypt the clipboard content and text messages.

Fort Video Guide

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