Welcome to Advanced File Encryptor (AFE)
Welcome to Advanced File Encryptor. AFE utilizes 256-bit AES encryption to protect your files and folders. It's encrypt, decrypt, and wipe features are easily accessible from the Windows context menus.
Getting Started
To begin using AFE, double click on the setup.exe or the Advanced File Encryptor.msi file depending on your download. This will install AFE into your Program Files directory. Shortcuts to AFE will be placed on your desktop and in your Start menu for your convenience.
You can begin using AFE by right-clicking on any file or folder and then clicking one of the AFE menu options. You can also run AFE by clicking one of the newly created shortcuts.
Uninstalling Advanced File Encryptor
To uninstall AFE, go to your Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs. Select "Advanced File Encryptor" in the list and click Uninstall.
Encryption in AFE
The file encryption in AFE is top-of-the-line AES 256-bit encryption. This is one of the best algorithms available today.
AFE can encrypt/decrypt text using the AES, Twofish, and RSA algorithms.
Windows Explorer Context Menus
After installing AFE, you will notice AFE's menus when you right-click on a file or folder. The context menus are available immediately after installing AFE and you have the option to turn them off later if you wish by running AFE and click Preferences under the File menu.
To update the context menus and the .afe file association run Advanced File Encryptor from your Start menu. This will correct any path issues with the .afe association.
Encrypting Files
To encrypt a file, right-click on the file and in the context menu click Advanced File Encryptor and then Encrypt. You will then be asked to specify a password to protect the encrypted file. The original file will remain unless you select the
Wipe Original File After Encrypting option.
You can specify where to save the encrypted file in the
Save File As box. It is recommended you use the .afe extension on the encrypted file to make it easily accessible from the Windows context menu. (The default file name will be:
:\\filename.ext.afe)
Click the Encrypt button to encrypt the file.
Options when encrypting files:
Wipe original file after encrypting - Causes the original file to be wiped once it has been successfully encrypted.
Decrypting Files
To decrypt a file, right-click on the file and in the context menu click Advanced File Encryptor and then Decrypt. You will then be prompted for the password that was used to protect the encrypted file. The encrypted file will remain unless you select the Wipe Original File After Decrypting option.
You can specify where to save the encrypted file in the Save File As box.
Click the Decrypt button to decrypt the file.
Options when decrypting files:
- Wipe encrypted file after decrypting - Causes the encrypted file to be wiped once it has been successfully decrypted.
Encrypting Folders
To encrypt a folder right-click the folder and click Encrypt Folder from the context menu. You will be asked to specify a password to protect the encrypted folder. Encrypted folders will have the .afe extension unless the Make the encrypted file a self-extracting exe option is selected.
Options when encrypting folders:
- Apply password to decrypted zip file - Causes the zip file made to be protected by a password. The password will be the same as for the encrypted file.
- Encrypt folder contents recursively - Causes the top folder and all its subfolders to be encrypted also.
- Make the encrypted file a self-extracting exe - Causes the encrypted zip file to also be a self-extracting file. This option is useful if you are taking the encrypted folder to a computer that does not have Advanced File Encryptor installed.
- Compression Level - Allows the user to set the compression level on a scale from 1 to 9. 1 is the least compression with 9 being the most. The user may disable compression by selecting the "Do not compress" option.
Decrypting Folders
To decrypt a folder, right-click the encrypted file and click Decrypt. You will be prompted to enter the password used to encrypt the file and where to save the decrypted contents. The decrypted contents will be a zip archive that can be extracted back into the original structure at a location of your choosing.
Options when making self-extracting files:
- ipe original file after making self-extracting exe - Causes the original file to be wiped once it has been successfully made into an encrypted self-extracting file.
Wiping Files
AFE includes the ability to "wipe", or securely delete files beyond recovery. By using the wipe feature you can be assured deleted files are actually deleted. File wiping uses the Department of Defense 5220.22-M secure delete standard. This method overwrites the files multiple times before deleting.
Queue
The Queue allows you to select multiple files to encrypt, decrypt, encrypt and make self-extracting, or wipe. The files and actions placed into the queue will not be executed until the user clicks the Perform Desired Actions Now menu (by right-clicking on the Queue window).
To add a file to the queue, select the file and click the Queue File button on the toolbar. Next, click the desired action.
Note: Decrypted files cannot be queued for decryption and likewise, encrypted files cannot be queued for encryption.
Viewing Hash Values
To view the MD5 and SHA hash values of a file, select the file in the AFE main screen. Next, click the Advanced button on the toolbar and select View SHA/MD5 Hash Value. A dialog will be presented and the SHA and MD5 hash values will be shown.
Hash values are useful to verify and compare two or more files.
Encrypting/Decrypting Text
Click the Advanced button on the AFE toolbar and click the Encrypt/Decrypt Text button.
The Encrypt/Decrypt Text dialog will be shown. Text can be encrypted and decrypted using the following algorithms: AES, Twofish, RSA.
About AFE
Advanced File Encryptor was written by Zemerick Software, Inc.
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