AES Crypt Users,
Terrapane released AES Crypt version 4.7.0 for all supported platforms,
including Window, Mac, Linux, BSD, and Android.
The focus of this release was on Windows. When AES Crypt was released
over 20 years ago, it was a very thin extension for Windows File
Explorer that allowed one to securely encrypt and decrypt files. Over
time, the size of the software grew. This growth was in part due to new
features and capabilities, but more significantly were Windows platform
changes that simply produced larger files.
At the same time, we received email from users over the years expressing
a desire to start AES Crypt via the “start” menu since finding the
context menu on Windows 11 was sometimes challenging. This was
understandable since Microsoft changed how one accesses the menu. Given
the goal of AES Crypt to make strong security accessible to everyone, we
decided a “start” menu application would be ideal.
Given the growth in the size of the AES Crypt files, the changes
Microsoft made to the file context menu, and the desire for users to
make AES Crypt accessible from the “start” menu, we rearchitected AES
Crypt on Windows to address these points. We moved the context menu
extension logic into a new DLL that is as small as possible. This
reduces the burden placed in Windows File Explorer. The context menu now
invokes the AES Crypt application to perform encryption and decryption
functions. And for the first time, we now have an AES Crypt application
that appears in the “start” menu. The AES Crypt application will open a
“File Explorer” window to allow one to select files to encrypt or
decrypt.
Of course, there are always changes, enhancements, and bug fixes made
throughout the code that affects all platforms. Thus, we published new
versions of AES Crypt on all platforms so that all platforms are
consistent. There are no significant changes on other platforms, so
updating on other platforms is less impactful.
Paul
