Data Encryption Systems DESlock+ 3.2 review

Anyone with access to your PC can copy and read your data, and simply password-protecting your Word documents isn't very secure. DESlock+ offers a more effective way of protecting your data using encryption.

The software stores your encryption key securely on a USB flash drive. Without this USB key connected, you can't view your encrypted files. Obviously, this could lead to problems if you were to lose the USB key, so DESlock+ comes with two in the box so that you can create a backup.

It's tricky to get working and the manual can be difficult to understand. We followed the steps for creating and activating a new key but couldn't back it up on to the second USB key. We had to activate that key first before the backup operation would work. The manual could do with a slightly clearer step-by-step guide that dictates every action to make it obvious what you should do.

You'll probably use the software through its Windows integration. Right-clicking a file or folder lets you archive the data (like an encrypted Zip file) or encrypt it directly. The latter option works on folders, so any file you copy into it is encrypted automatically. With your USB key inserted you can access these files and folders as you would any others; remove it, though, and you're denied access. For further protection, DESlock+ can hide encrypted files when your key isn't available.

This worked seamlessly on our test PC, but there was one complication: choosing the encryption key. Each USB key can hold multiple encryption keys, and when you encrypt a file the software asks you to choose one. This is probably a bit much for most people. A simple mode that uses a default option would have been better. Power users and those who understand encryption well will be pleased to see the full range of options.

There's also the problem of emailing archives to people, as they need to be able to decrypt the file using their copy of DESlock+. The software has built-in key requests, but if this sounds complex you can encrypt archives using a less-secure password. As well as encrypting files and folders DESlock+ can create encrypted volumes, which appear as drives in Windows. This requires a separate application, which you can open from the Start menu. It's worth doing, because you'll know that everything you save to that drive is securely encrypted, and it provides a single place to store your secure files.

There's also a secure scratch pad, which saves data you type securely. It would have been nice to have a built-in password vault as well, though. DESlock+ could also do with better integration between its applications, or at least a start application that launches programs by task - such as an 'I want to create a secure drive' link that launches the encrypted drive utility.

Aside from that, DESlock+ does everything you want an encryption program to do, and it does it well. If you transfer a lot of documents to other people, the key exchange tools are invaluable. We wish there was an easier mode for the less technically inclined, though.