AxCrypt 2.1.1585 for Windows

by Axon Data

Avg. Rating 4.6 (67 votes)

File Details

File Size 6.3 MB
License Open Source
Operating System Windows (All)
Date Added
Total Downloads 7,025
Publisher Axon Data
Homepage AxCrypt

Publisher's Description

AxCrypt is a file encryption program that uses the AES algorithm with 128-bit keys. It combines strong symmetric encryption with compression and double-click editing. Encrypted files have a ".axx" extension added to their names, and are shown with a new icon.

Latest Reviews

AreYouKiddingMe

AreYouKiddingMe reviewed v2.1.1585 on Sep 13, 2022

AxCrypt requires that you create an account on their site. They then use that accounts password to create your user keys, all of which they store on their network.
They store:
Private key
Master File Key
Public Key

Sorry to break the news to you, but whoever has your master file key and/or your private key also has everything they need to access your encrypted files.
This is a poor implementation of what could've been a great application.

Hilbert

Hilbert reviewed v1.7.3156.0 on Jan 17, 2014

After one of my encryption utilities failed to work on Windows-7/64-bit (it does work on XP/32-bit) I tried AxCrypt and was very pleasantly surprised with how good it was. Especially how reliable and crash-free it was at encrypting whilst the PC was heavily loaded with other activity/programs.

Encryption activity can send a PC/CPU to max 100%, in these circumstances either the encryption package itself can fail or that during 100% machine usage it fails to write the encrypted file to disk--thus one can be left without a useable file--one that can be decrypted, thus the user has permanently lost data. In this regard, I found AxCrypt faultless, it worked perfectly.

For me, the main requirement was that it must work on-the-fly from the context menu and this is passes with flying colors.

As with most encryption packages, without actually watching the compilation process from known good source code, one has to take the downloaded binaries at face value. That said, the investigation that I've done (the net, hearsay, other users, my testing, developer's website etc.) all indicate that this package is both good and as secure (no back doors etc.) as its developer says it is.

Operationally, AxCrypt is very solid in the useability stakes.

Outside specialized secure environments, military, banks etc., I'd have no hesitation in recommending this very solid encryption package to all users.

Landsnes

Landsnes reviewed v1.6.4.4 on Jun 15, 2008

Excellent!

The features of this program are more than sufficient for my needs. Combined with TrueCrypt there's little more to ask for.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6.4.4 on May 19, 2008

1.6.4.4 2008-05-13
Release of 1.6b4.3.

1.6b4.3 2008-04-27
Bug fixes, see change notes.

1.6b4.2 2008-04-10
Windows Vista has introduced a brilliant new feature in the name of
security (sic!) which causes the address space of processes to be
randomly assigned. This caused a latent bug to surface, causing
random crashes and taskbar freezes. Another latent bug caused Vista
to silently kill the process instead of showing it's exception
dialog. In the end a rather major edit with lots of cleanup as a
result.

1.6.4.1 2008-03-17
Fixed a major issue with not using provided passphrase when encrypting
in batch files via the command line.

1.6.4 2008-03-07
Final release of the changes in 1.6b3.1 through 1.6b.3.3 plus a few
minor changes.

1.6b3.3 2008-02-07
Include AxCrypt2Go beta in the distribution. Enable use of Unicode
filenames (legacy versions will use translated name).

1.6b3.2 2008-01-29
Further changes to make it more Vista-aware. The largest change is
re-compilation as a full Unicode application and dropping support for
Windows 95, 98, ME and NT. We're no open for translations to more
languages, as we're not limited in the texts. Filenames are still
stored in Ansi only, will be fixed in next version.

1.6b3.1 2008-01-08
Minor bugfixes, but major upgrade of library code and development-
environment to Visual Studio 2005. Vista support in installer and code.
Fix of problem with networked folders in Windows XP after Microsoft
security update.

rhoadesb

rhoadesb reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Apr 29, 2008

I am currently using version 1.6.3 so this speaks about that.

I have been using Axcrypt for single file encryption several years now, always with good results.

Something I don't see in the homepage of Axcrypt is a version changes list. It appears that all of the features listed in 1.6.4 I already have in 1.6.3.

Perhaps the release is correcting bugs, although I have never encountered any.

uberfly

uberfly reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Mar 18, 2008

Very solid and reliable. It easily covers the basics of file encryption without all the overhead like you get from PGP these days.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Mar 18, 2008

1.6.4.1 2008-03-17
Fixed a major issue with not using provided passphrase when encrypting
in batch files via the command line.

anomoly

anomoly reviewed v1.6.4 on Mar 10, 2008

To be perfectly honest advanced file security 3 on it's first try has done better than any other free encryption program to date. If for no other reason than it will handle folders too and is entirely portable. fine crypt (crippled) will do a max of 5 of anything for free. There is literally nothing else (i know of) that encrypts folders for free.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6b3.2 on Jan 30, 2008

1.6b3.2 2008-01-29

Further changes to make it more Vista-aware. The largest change is re-compilation as a full Unicode application and dropping support for Windows 95, 98, ME and NT. We're no open for translations to more languages, as we're not limited in the texts.
Filenames are still stored in Ansi only, will be fixed in next version.

marians

marians reviewed v1.6b3.1 on Jan 9, 2008

I know I'm wrong on this but...

Since I've been using AxCrypt for a long time, I will rate this very useful app judging by the way it served me over time: Excellent ! As some other user just said, nothing fancy, no containers, no virtual drives, just a very useful context-menu driven encryption tool

But ...
I use to encrypt files and "forget" about them for a long time. From time to time I find myself needing the content of such an encrypted file. And one thing I would hate is finding out that the file is damaged.
That is why I suggest beta-testing it on a virtual machine , with already backed up files or just test files. That is what I will do.

I like the program a lot and the developer deserves our feedback. Help the man as he helps us :-)

Many excuses to BetaNews for not rating this specific version (which in fact we should all do)

Avg. Rating 4.6 (67 votes)
Your Rating

Someone reviewed v on Mar 19, 2023

Pros:

Cons:

Bottom Line:

AreYouKiddingMe

AreYouKiddingMe reviewed v2.1.1585 on Sep 13, 2022

Pros: Makes Encryption easy. But only fools should use this app.

Cons: Allows AxCrypt and anyone at their site, govt entities, and whomever exploits their network to have unfettered access to ALL your data.
Also allows anyone above to see who you've been talking to via metadata analysis.

Bottom Line: AxCrypt requires that you create an account on their site. They then use that accounts password to create your user keys, all of which they store on their network.
They store:
Private key
Master File Key
Public Key

Sorry to break the news to you, but whoever has your master file key and/or your private key also has everything they need to access your encrypted files.
This is a poor implementation of what could've been a great application.

Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

Hilbert

Hilbert reviewed v1.7.3156.0 on Jan 17, 2014

After one of my encryption utilities failed to work on Windows-7/64-bit (it does work on XP/32-bit) I tried AxCrypt and was very pleasantly surprised with how good it was. Especially how reliable and crash-free it was at encrypting whilst the PC was heavily loaded with other activity/programs.

Encryption activity can send a PC/CPU to max 100%, in these circumstances either the encryption package itself can fail or that during 100% machine usage it fails to write the encrypted file to disk--thus one can be left without a useable file--one that can be decrypted, thus the user has permanently lost data. In this regard, I found AxCrypt faultless, it worked perfectly.

For me, the main requirement was that it must work on-the-fly from the context menu and this is passes with flying colors.

As with most encryption packages, without actually watching the compilation process from known good source code, one has to take the downloaded binaries at face value. That said, the investigation that I've done (the net, hearsay, other users, my testing, developer's website etc.) all indicate that this package is both good and as secure (no back doors etc.) as its developer says it is.

Operationally, AxCrypt is very solid in the useability stakes.

Outside specialized secure environments, military, banks etc., I'd have no hesitation in recommending this very solid encryption package to all users.

Landsnes

Landsnes reviewed v1.6.4.4 on Jun 15, 2008

Excellent!

The features of this program are more than sufficient for my needs. Combined with TrueCrypt there's little more to ask for.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6.4.4 on May 19, 2008

1.6.4.4 2008-05-13
Release of 1.6b4.3.

1.6b4.3 2008-04-27
Bug fixes, see change notes.

1.6b4.2 2008-04-10
Windows Vista has introduced a brilliant new feature in the name of
security (sic!) which causes the address space of processes to be
randomly assigned. This caused a latent bug to surface, causing
random crashes and taskbar freezes. Another latent bug caused Vista
to silently kill the process instead of showing it's exception
dialog. In the end a rather major edit with lots of cleanup as a
result.

1.6.4.1 2008-03-17
Fixed a major issue with not using provided passphrase when encrypting
in batch files via the command line.

1.6.4 2008-03-07
Final release of the changes in 1.6b3.1 through 1.6b.3.3 plus a few
minor changes.

1.6b3.3 2008-02-07
Include AxCrypt2Go beta in the distribution. Enable use of Unicode
filenames (legacy versions will use translated name).

1.6b3.2 2008-01-29
Further changes to make it more Vista-aware. The largest change is
re-compilation as a full Unicode application and dropping support for
Windows 95, 98, ME and NT. We're no open for translations to more
languages, as we're not limited in the texts. Filenames are still
stored in Ansi only, will be fixed in next version.

1.6b3.1 2008-01-08
Minor bugfixes, but major upgrade of library code and development-
environment to Visual Studio 2005. Vista support in installer and code.
Fix of problem with networked folders in Windows XP after Microsoft
security update.

rhoadesb

rhoadesb reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Apr 29, 2008

I am currently using version 1.6.3 so this speaks about that.

I have been using Axcrypt for single file encryption several years now, always with good results.

Something I don't see in the homepage of Axcrypt is a version changes list. It appears that all of the features listed in 1.6.4 I already have in 1.6.3.

Perhaps the release is correcting bugs, although I have never encountered any.

uberfly

uberfly reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Mar 18, 2008

Very solid and reliable. It easily covers the basics of file encryption without all the overhead like you get from PGP these days.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6.4.1 on Mar 18, 2008

1.6.4.1 2008-03-17
Fixed a major issue with not using provided passphrase when encrypting
in batch files via the command line.

anomoly

anomoly reviewed v1.6.4 on Mar 10, 2008

To be perfectly honest advanced file security 3 on it's first try has done better than any other free encryption program to date. If for no other reason than it will handle folders too and is entirely portable. fine crypt (crippled) will do a max of 5 of anything for free. There is literally nothing else (i know of) that encrypts folders for free.

MickyFoley

MickyFoley reviewed v1.6b3.2 on Jan 30, 2008

1.6b3.2 2008-01-29

Further changes to make it more Vista-aware. The largest change is re-compilation as a full Unicode application and dropping support for Windows 95, 98, ME and NT. We're no open for translations to more languages, as we're not limited in the texts.
Filenames are still stored in Ansi only, will be fixed in next version.

marians

marians reviewed v1.6b3.1 on Jan 9, 2008

I know I'm wrong on this but...

Since I've been using AxCrypt for a long time, I will rate this very useful app judging by the way it served me over time: Excellent ! As some other user just said, nothing fancy, no containers, no virtual drives, just a very useful context-menu driven encryption tool

But ...
I use to encrypt files and "forget" about them for a long time. From time to time I find myself needing the content of such an encrypted file. And one thing I would hate is finding out that the file is damaged.
That is why I suggest beta-testing it on a virtual machine , with already backed up files or just test files. That is what I will do.

I like the program a lot and the developer deserves our feedback. Help the man as he helps us :-)

Many excuses to BetaNews for not rating this specific version (which in fact we should all do)

stisev

stisev reviewed v1.6.3 on Mar 13, 2007

I was very hesistant to try this program since I already use TrueCrypt (the BEST volume encryption app hands down), but I am VERY glad I listened to the people here.

AxCrypt, indeed, has different uses than TrueCrypt. It also has some beautiful features that I'm happy to see.

I've got this program on my watch list :)

Zerbe

Zerbe reviewed v1.6.3 on Aug 18, 2006

Great little program to ecnrypt files on the fly.

spiffyjeff

spiffyjeff reviewed v1.6.2.3 on Jun 15, 2006

cool program, but it requires internet explorer. I could probably run it on Linux through WINE if it didn't require IE :(

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