[SOLVED] Secure notepad?

Winfried

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2011
Hello,

In case my computer gets hacked, I want to keep passwords safe into an encrypted file.

Since the data I have is free-flow, KeePass won't do since it expects data to be in neat columns (logon, password, etc.)

After checking several apps, I came up with the following requirements:
1. Open-source
2. Light, single EXE, 32/64-bit Windows (No Java, No .Net, no heavy app like NotePad++)
3. Standard encryption — so if need be, can decrypt with other app eg. 7Zip, Winzip, GnuPGP, etc.
4. Requires password confirmation to check for typos
5. Actively developped (ie. no 0.1 from 2011)

Crypto Notepad was very close, but 1) it doesn't require the user to re-type the password, 2) it requires .Net, and 3) I'm not sure I can decrypt its files using third-app tools.

I know I could write a batch file to use eg. Winzip to encrypt/decrypt, but a single app that takes care of business is easier, especially when updating the file.

What app would you recommend?

Thank you.

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Edit: After checking a bunch of solutions, it looks like "AES Crypt for Windows", which integrates with Windows' context menu, is good enough:
1. Using eg. Notepad, create the original file with your passwords
2. On the desktop or Windows Explorer, right-click on the file, and choose "AES Encrypt": It creates an encrypted version of the file, with the extension ".aes" added to the filename. Delete the original, plain text file
3. When you need to access a password, right-click on the .aes file and choose "AES Decrypt". Make sure you delete the original file after reading/editing.

AES is also available as a command-line application.

A nice addition would be for AES to decrypt the file and simply show it in a read-only pop-up Window, when the user only needs to copy text into the clipboard, removing the need to delete the original, plain text file afterwards.
 
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If your goal is to securely store passwords than a password manager would be the recommended application type. Bitwarden, and 1Password are some of the better options. Well vetted and following a true zero trust architecture means even the vendor does not have all of the key material needed to decrypt your vault. Password vaults or other means of encrypting data are not immune to attacks so having multiple layers of protection are required to help secure you, your system and your data.

Keyloggers and good old brute-forcing are several attacks that can be used against password vaults including keepass files. As always make sure your password is long (over 15 is good) to protect against brute-force attacks.
 
Yes, but the data I have to start with do not neatly fit the colums required to use password managers like KeePass, which I did look at before. And it'd be too much work to edit the input file.

So I needed a solution that could encrypt a free-flow text file.
 
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