Puffer 4.05

If you want to prevent people with access to your computer from viewing your private, confidential data, you can’t just hide it somewhere and hope no one will find it. I know a couple of people who do that. They’re line of reasoning is that if they hide something under enough subfolders, no one would stumble onto whatever they’re trying to hide. Guess they never heard of “Search” – and no, I didn’t bother to set them straight.

The only efficient way to protect others from accessing your data is to encrypt and password protect it. To do so you can use one of the many of encryption utilities available for download out there. Out of the myriad of encryption utilities out there, I would like to focus on the Briggs Softworks-developed application Puffer. Here’s what you can expect to get from Puffer, from a functionality point of view:

- Compress and encrypt your data into zip-style PUF archives
- Use stenography to hide data into image files
- Create self-decrypting archives and safely send data to non-Puffer users over the internet. When the non-Puffer user provides the correct password, the archive will self-decrypt and the user will have access to whatever data you sent him.
- Wiping options to permanently delete sensitive data.
- Built-in text editor and clipboard viewer.

Before you go get Puffer and put it to the test, take a look at the technical details presented below:
Download – the download weighs in at 2.0MB, which means the download will complete in no time at all (even if you are on a less than spectacular internet connection).
Supported OS – at the time of writing this and according to the developer, Puffer provides support for Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit editions).
Limitations – the trial version is limited to 25 uses.

Pros

• Lightweight download
• Create self-decrypting archives
• Built-in text editor
• Hide data into images
• Data wiping
• Works with Windows 7

Cons

• Free to try

About Briggs Softworks
Founded by Kent Briggs, a member of the Association of Software Professionals (ASP) since 1987, Houston-based Briggs Softworks comes up with utility programs meant to make you more productive and computer games meant to help you have a good time. Briggs Softworks’ applications work with just about any version of the Microsoft-developed Windows operating system; they are powerful and easy to use.

Additional details on Briggs Softworks are available here.
Additional details on Puffer are available here.

Puffer has been reviewed by George Norman on 03 Dec 2010. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has rated Puffer 4 out of 5 stars, naming it Excellent