Graphical User Interface (GUI) Option
You do not need to be an expert to use AES Crypt for Windows to securely encrypt your data files. To encrypt a file, you simply right-click on the file you wish to encrypt, select the "AES Encrypt" option, and enter the desired password. (The menu may be under the "Show more options" menu.) AES Crypt will produce a file that cannot be read by anybody who does not know the secret password. It is as simple as that.
AES Crypt will produce an encrypted file with the same name as the original file, but with an ".aes" extension.
Note that when you encrypt a file with AES Crypt, it does not delete the original file. Generally, people encrypt files for the purpose of sending a file securely via e-mail or copying it to a portable storage device that is more susceptible to loss. As such, most people do not want to delete the original. However, you may certainly delete the original file: just do not forget the password. It is impossible to recover the contents of an encrypted file if the password is lost.
Decrypting an encrypted file produced through the process described above is just as easy. To decrypt the file, you simply right-click on the encrypted file, select the "AES Decrypt" option, and enter your secret password.
It is also possible to double-click on encrypted files to launch AES Crypt todisplay the password dialog window.
Command-Line Option
AES Crypt for the command-line works the same way on all platforms. Seethe command line instructions for usage.