GiliSoft Privacy Protector 11.5.11

Overview

GiliSoft Privacy Protector is an efficient privacy protection utility that encrypts files and folders on your computer in order to protect them from unauthorized users. It adequately protects your data from being stolen or impaired by malicious threats like viruses, Trojans, spyware, and even hackers. It includes deletion tools that help you in securely removing all traces of computer and online activities. This is a password-protected program, so anyone without its password cannot access it or your personal data.

Installation

This is a password-protected program, so even on initiating its installation, it asks you to enter a password (which is to be used for future login as well).Optionally, you can also enter your email address where the entered password is sent and can be retrieved later on, if forgotten. Rest of the steps confirm generic information such as setup destination path, Start menu folder, and additional icons (Desktop or Quick Launch Icon).  Lastly, you can choose the option to launch the program right after installation completes. It is compatible with following operating systems:  Windows 2K/2003/XP/Vista/7 /8.

Interface

Interface of this program is very clean, modern, and intuitive. It has a well-organized layout where all the main menu options are aligned nicely in the left panel and screen for each of these is shown to their right in the main area. The menu options shown in the left panel are for following functions – Hide Data, Lock Data, Write-Protected, Private Disk, Safe Delete, Erase History, and General. Some other links are also there in its window such as Protection, Help and Report Bugs (to submit program related issues to Gilisoft).

Pros

• It has a password-based protection system, so anyone without its password can neither open this program nor can access locked/hidden parts of your computer
• You can hide your important data from prying eyes and make it invisible to them by using ‘Hide Data’ feature which lets you hide not only Files and Folders but all the hard drives of your system as well (or you can choose few hard drives only)
• In order to restrict unauthorized users from accessing your important data, use ‘Lock data’ feature which enables you to lock files, folders and hard drives, after which unauthorized users are unable to read, open, modify, delete, copy or even rename them
• By applying write-protection operation, the data in the protected files, folders, and hard drives cannot be modified or deleted by anyone without your knowledge
• Create your own Private disk with this program which gives you a secure space for all your work including documents, pictures, music, videos, and games
• If you never want the deleted data to be retrieved by another user, then ‘Safe Delete’ is a useful feature for you which cleans up sensitive data from the hard drive by overwriting it several times with cautiously selected patterns
• It can safely erase history of all your computer activities including Windows recent documents history, Windows Start menu run/search history, Recycle Bin history, IE cookies, IE address bar history, and IE browser history
• You can change the settings of the program from ‘General’ tab such as – change the password or email address, enable Stealth (invisible) mode of the program, and list down the folders/files that are to be excluded for locking or hiding

Cons

• The trial version does not allow you to encrypt, hide or protect folders and drives; you can only perform these actions on files

Alternatives

Similar softwares that can be used as alternatives of GiliSoft Privacy Protector for protecting data are – Privacy Drive and Folder Lock. Privacy Drive is an encryption software that can lock, hide and encrypt your important files/folders, and password protects the data from unauthorized users. Folder Lock is an easy-to-use software that can password protect, lock, hide and encrypt sensitive files, folders, drives, and documents with just a few clicks.

Conclusion

Gilisoft Privacy Protector is a comprehensive software loaded with abundant features to help you in securing your personal and sensitive data. It not only lets to protect your files, folders, and drives but offers other handy functions ranging from safe deletion of data to erasing computer history. Except the fact that its free version won’t allow you to protect folders and drive, all its features make it a favorable program for all the users and is even worth buying for complete security of your data.