What Is It?

A simple and very versatile program to encrypt and decrypt text or files (less than 10mb in size).

Why Would You Want It?

To quickly and simply encrypt some text within a text file, word document etc. or to encrypt a small(ish) file.

Finding this utility started the other day, I needed to quickly encrypt a small amount of text. Full file encryption and attaching to an email seemed like a lot of work so I thought it would be useful just to encrypt the text. I then thought that quite often I send files to other people where we are developing the text but I don’t want some of them them to see all of it. So rather than cut out the text and send this to some of the group and then send a different file to others with all of the text, then have to get back different files and cut/paste the text into a master file, it would be better if I could just encrypt the sensitive information and send one file to everyone along with the password to reveal the hidden text to those who need to see it. This set me off on a mission to see if there was a suitable utility available. So I “Googled” using some of my essential keywords at the start of such a search which include “Freeware” and “Portable” – CliipSecure came up in the results so I downloaded it and tried it out. I was delighted with what I found .

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Encrypts/Decrypts Text
• Encrypts/Decrypts Files (smallish)

So that is a pretty short list but the way it does it and the options available are what makes it so impressive.

Pros: What’s Good?

• Freeware

• Portable
• 27 page manual
• Multilingual
• Excellent tooltips and information
• Very Simple & Easy to Use
• Lots of Useful Options

Cons:What’s Not So Good?

• No signs of life since 2005(2004?) in development or updating

More About What it Does in Detail:

The “Manual” file that comes with the download runs to 27 pages and is really extensive and detailed for the application. The relevant part outlining what ClipSecure is all about says:

Sending email is like sending a postcard: anyone can read it along the way.
It’s easy to lose sight of that fact now that email has become as routine
as the daily newspaper. Few of us pause before hitting the ’send’ button,
asking ourselves: What if this email was read by someone other than the
intended recipient? If that worries you, encryption is the answer.

…………………(much more text here in the manual)…………….

The program should give you a simple way of corresponding securely with
friends and family. I hope it is of some use to you.

Regards,
Andrew Ferguson
Australia

Having unzipped the executable and manual (.rtf) files to my portable programs directory screens and menus are provided on running the program:

This review will follow the usual format of presenting the majority of information as screenshots backed up by further information where necessary.

(click on any picture to enlarge where necessary)

System Tray Icon

There are 3 different tooltip options that are selectable from the “Options” screens

Right clicking on the systray icon brings up the following dialog:

About/Splashscreen

Clicking on the CLIPSECURE menu item shows the about screen which is also used as the utility start splashscreen:

Options Screens

Clicking on the Options item in the systray menu displays the following screen with 5 tabs:

Operation Tab

As you can see there are a wide selection of general options some of which are very significant in the way the utility operates. The auto select all text is particularly significant if you only want to encrypt small sections of text in the document you need to turn this off (deselect the checkbox)

Algorithms Tab

The show hints checkbox toggles the tooltips for the Options screens. The tooltips are detailed and well worth seeing, eg on the :

Hotkeys Tab

Here you can set specific hotkeys by typing in the appropriate text including the control keys.

Clipkeys Tab

This tab advises you to contact the developer to change the settings, as there has been no development for 4 years don’t get your hopes up!

File Mode Tab

This provides options for encrypting/decrypting entire files rather than just the text

As you can see this explains it is intended for small (less than 10Mb) files. There is also some advice on encrypting .rtf files, particularly those which contain pictures, in terms of file size, etc.

Encrypting Text

This depends on your settings as to whether all the text in the file will be automatically selected and encrypted or if you need to select the text for yourself. The options also determine whether the selected text (auto or otherwise) is automatically replaced by the encrypted text. So you need to determine from the relatively extensive options what you want to do before starting the encryption/decryption process.

Right clicking on the System Tray Icon and selecting Encrypt shows the following screen:

Again there are many options available including revealing your entered password as plain text as well as setting and using master passwords. Detailed tooltips are also given so make good use of your mouse to find out what is available!

Master Password Options

Here is a sample of encrypted text:

Encryption of Files

Selecting File Mode from the System Tray menu brings up the file selection window as above.

Having selected the appropriate file in the standard Windows way you can then select a file save name for the file:

Help

There is an Instructions option in the System Tray Right Click Menu:

There is also the extensive manual available with the download.

What are the Technical Details & Compatibility?

What is the My Free Review Experience?

This is a little gem of a program and I am really impressed with its capabilities and options.

Personally I rate this as:

Potentially Very Useful- Lots of Good Options – Easy to Use

What Could Make it be Better?

I fell as the program has not had any development for 4 years it is redundant to make suggestions. However this does not make the program any less relevant for current use. The problem may be that, in time, the program will not run on the latest versions of Windows OS’s

What Other Posts are Relevant?

Recuva – Easy and Quick Way to Recover Deleted Photos and Files

Why You Want to Use Portable Freeware Applications

Why I decided to Write This Blog

What are the Tags?

Technorati Tags: Security, Encryption, Decryption, Freeware, Portable Application, Portable Freeware, PortableApps, Programs, Software, Utilities, Windows, Windows XP

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Portable Freeware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.