What with the amount of important information about ourselves we keep on our computers, it’s worth considering protection so that should it be lost or stolen the thief can’t access it.

Autosave Encrypt is an interesting new product that can securely save files to a CD.

It’s different to most other security programs in that what you get is a blank CD with all of the software loaded onto it to encrypt, burn and securely delete files from the computer. For this reason there is no software to install and nor do you require any other programs. The entire process is guided by a step-by-step wizard.

When a disc is inserted the user is asked to enter a password with which to protect the data and a keyboard appears on screen to protect against keyloggers. Files can then be dragged and dropped from the hard disk onto a window that appears, and multiple sessions are available so if you don’t fill up the disc the first time round additional files may be added later. The encryption and burning process is very quick and once done, there’s the option to verify the stored files and securely delete the data from the main hard disk.

There’s 680MB of space available on the disc and the latest algorithms are used for the encryption.

When you want to access what’s on the disc, you are presented with a request for the password and once that’s entered the contents are shown on screen. From there they can be opened and saved to a local disk. Handily, the program keeps track of the location of any files copied from the disc in this way so that it can permanently wipe those copies when you eject the disc.

We were extremely impressed by how quick and easy Autosave was to use and it certainly made the process of securely storing and viewing files a lot easier than most encryption software.

Though it’s expensive, those who consider security paramount and don’t want to concern themselves with full-on encryption software will still find it a small price to pay for peace of mind.