Advanced File Security 3 - Simple Windows File Encryption
March 13, 2008 – 11:00 amAccording to Wikipedia, encryption means:
the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key.
In layman term, encryption is a process to make your file unreadable by others to protect your privacy. In order to open an encrypted file or folder, you need a special key, for example: a password. To understand and use file encryption for your advantage, you can try Advanced File Security 3 - a simple Windows file encryption freeware .
Advanced File Security 3 is a small program that is able to encrypt any files or folders inside your Windows system using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm . The US government has adopted this protocol so anyone that is going to open your AES encrypted file must be a really smart guy, not somebody like George Bush.
How to Encrypt a File / Folder with AFS 3
1- Download AFS 3 and install it if you have not done it yet.
2- On the default menu bar, select Encryption -> File/Folder. You can also right click on any file or folder and click Advanced File Security 3 -> Encrypt next.
3- Using the Add button on the menu bar, click and choose either or file or folder to be added to the list. Click Next .
4- To encrypt a file/folder, enter a password that you can remember two times (the second one is to confirm the first password).
5- (optional) Additionally, you can add a “Key-Extension“. A Key-Extension provides extra security by allowing you to provide one or two set of question and answers that will asked during the decryption process of the file. It can be a simple text question e.g. “Mom’s name?” or a date based question e.g. “Date of birthday?” Click “Save” to continue.
6- Click the “Encrypt ” button to start the windows file encryption process. By default, the original file will be deleted once the process has been completed. You can change this setting at Tools -> Settings -> “delete source files after successful..”
To decrypt a file, right click on it and select Advanced File Security 3 -> Encrypt. Enter the password that you have entered during the encryption process. You may have to provide the Key-Extension answer if you had used it during the file encryption process, as simple as that. In fact, AFS 3 is one of the easiest windows file encryption tool that I’ve ever used.
Important: Make sure that you remember your passwords clearly because there is no way to open an AES encrypted password at this time. If there is any way to hack through an encrypted file, there is no point of using this program isn’t it? 
Tags: advanced file security, file encryption, folder encryption, afs, aes
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6 Responses to “Advanced File Security 3 - Simple Windows File Encryption”
Good find for file based encryption. I am downloading it now.
BTW AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard.
Actually name of the algorithm was Rijndael but after it was adopted as a standard then it started to be called by the name AES for the obvious reasons. Of course now it is OK to call it AES
By Jawwad @ Inspired Geek on Mar 14, 2008
By Syahid A. on Mar 14, 2008
Yesterday while browsing I came across this software (I dont remember how I saw this) and you have give a nice tutorial on encryption.
By Nirmal on Mar 14, 2008
I am an encryption freak. Will definately try this .
By Madhur Kapoor on Mar 17, 2008
By Syahid A. on Mar 17, 2008
I would definitely keep this in my software repository. Guess might require in future.
By BlogsDNA on Jul 22, 2008