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FileGuard is perhaps the most robust security software I've ever come across for the Macintosh. With FileGuard you have the power to quickly and easily password protect literally every file and folder on your Macintosh, and set up individual users with their own privileges.
Familiar interface, plenty of optionsAnyone who has ever used File Sharing will automatically recognize the roots of FileGuard. In fact, FileGuard essentially uses File Sharing as the way to protect the folders on your drives. You can set the owner of the folder and what privileges (read, write, none) other users have to that folder. Thus, when a user logs onto your computer, they'll only have access to what you've specified.
Any kind of drive can also be protected, and FileGuard gives you the option of having it ask for the passwords right at startup. Doing so allows you to place a password on the startup disk, preventing any unauthorized users from even booting your machine.
FileGuard will also encrypt any specified
document using of one four means of encryption: FastCrypt, DES, Triple-DES, or IDEA. Although the documentation points out that FastCrypt is the fastest and Triple-DES the most secure (hence slowest), on any reasonably equipped PowerMac it takes under two seconds to encrypt and decrypt any document regardless of what means of encryption is used. Once you have finished working with the document and quit its application, FileGuard will immediately encrypt it again. This quick and easy approach is not only faster but also easier to manage than Aladdin's PrivateFile encryption software.
Finally, FileGuard offers a "Security Screen" option that performs in a similar way to After Dark's password option; turning your screen black and prompting users to enter their password when the mouse is moved or a key is pressed. Taking that idea one step further, the "Lock" feature, accessed from the FileGuard menu, which will only allow the user who imposed the lock to log back in.
The FileGuard application presents a hierarchy of all your drives and their files, allowing you quick access to securing everything on your drive. Finder integration is also included via an icon-ized menu that allows you to protect a specified file or folder, log off, lock the screen, launch FileGuard, or view the log. FileGuard's log will keep track of when a user logged in, what they did as far as FileGuard is concerned (encrypting/decrypting, loading or attempting to load an encrypted document, etc.) and the times at which these tasks were performed. FileGuard also offers four levels of accounts: administrator, user (who has access to what the administrator has given them), super user (similar to a user but with the ability to manage the FileGuard application), and Guest.
Not entirely perfect
As far as security performance goes, FileGuard is foolproof, but the documentation and implementation could use some improvement. Amidst the typos included in the electronic documentation, the installation instructions included on the Floppy also speaks of a "FileGuard Remote" file, which was nowhere to be found. Although experienced users may realize that they are referring to the version of FileGuard intended for networks, this could confuse users who don't. As well, the floppy contains a self extracting file which must be copied to your Hard Drive. Expanding it reveals a disk image which must then be mounted and contains two more self extracting files, one of which is the FileGuard installer. Why couldn't they simply place the files contained in the disk image directly on the floppy?
In case of an emergency (you forget the passwords, FileGuard becomes corrupted, etc.), an Emergency Remove application is included which will wipe FileGuard from the selected drive. Doing so forces you to reinstall it, but while your encrypted documents remain encrypted, all users and their folder/application privileges must be recreated, which can prove to be a time consuming task.
If the price is right...Any user looking for complete control over their Mac should turn to FileGuard, whose features and options are second to none. If you're looking for a less expensive way to gain a piece of mind, ASD Soft sells a scaled down version of FileGuard called DiskGuard for $79. Whichever way you go, you'll never again have to worry that someone is using your Mac without your knowledge.
© 1998 The MacNN Review
