How to Encrypt your files (Uses Axcrypt)

Okay, this is my “How to use Axcrypt” tutorial .

Say this is the file I want to encrypt. Right click on it using the mouse and the following menu should appear:
Move your mouse down over Axcrypt and this next menu should come up:(If it doesn’t, then click Axcrypt. It doesn’t matter whether it appears to the left or right of the original menu.)

Once you reach that menu, click the encrypt button. (To see what the other options do see appendix 1 at the bottom of the post)

Once you click the Encrypt button, the previous menu should disappear and a new one should appear:

This where you set the password for your encrypted file. (Other options: Appendix 2). Type your password/phrase in the first form, then type it in again in the “Verify Passphrase” box. Press Ok when you are complete and your view should return to the desktop where the file icon has changed to this:

If you try to double-click on this icon, the following program will appear asking for the passphrase:

Once you type the phrase in correctly, the file will open as normal.

To remove the encryption:

To remove the encryption (or “decrypt”) the file, right click on the icon on the desktop.

As you did to encrypt the file, go to Axcrypt, but instead click decrypt. The following menu will come up:

And once you have put your pass phrase in, the file will return to its previous, unencrypted state.

Appendix 1:

Encrypt a copy: Leaves the original file alone and creates a encrypted copy of it in the same folder.

Encrypt copy to .exe: Leaves the original file alone and creates a program containing the encrypted file. This can be viewed on other computers, unlike the other encrypted files.

Appendix 2:

Remember for decryption: This basically lets you decrypt the file without typing anything in, so it is as good as not encrypting the file at all. My recommendation is: Don’t use this option.

Use as default for encryption: This means that the phrase you have typed in will automatically appear for any file you are trying to encrypt, which means that you don’t have to keep typing it in (unless you want to view or decrypt it). My recommendation is: use it if you want to, I personally use different pass phrases for different files so I don’t need to use this option.