You can protect files in a zip archive with a password, but this doesn't mean that you can protect your files list from reading, because a zip password protects files only from unauthorized extraction.

ZipGenius can protect an archive with standard industry zip password, but this feature is still present only to ensure compatibility with other zip programs; if you need more protection, you may consider using the CryptoZip technique, which encrypts archives in several different ways.

When you want to extract password protected files, you can type a password just in the releated field in the extraction dialog, but sometimes files may be protected with different password: in this case, ZipGenius will ask you a new password to continue file extraction. 

Tips for choosing a good password

Even if password technique becomes weaker day after day (encryption techniques are stronger than a simple password), it is still a wide spread way to protect files, so choosing a good password is just the first step. Just follow these tips:  

• Password should be at least 8 characters long; longer passwords require longer work to be cracked with password cracker applications;
• use "illogical" passwords; don't use people's name, birth date or real things names, etc., but use a casual sequence of characters (ex.: "xOOp24CcFFg");
• increase password strength by using ALPHANUMERIC characters and both letter cases (see previous example);
• don't use always the same password for different archives;
• if you can, change password periodically;
• don't tell your password to anybody: be jealous with it;
• third parties' password managers are really comfortable to use, but it would be a good idea to store password list in a safe place away from your PC. Nothing is safe, even the strongest encryption algorhythm around.

These tips apply also to passphrases used for CryptoZip encryption techniques.

Creating a new archive |  Adding files or folders |  Extracting files | Deleting files |  Renaming an archive | Signing an archive| The "Readme.txt" file | Installing applications | Renaming a file | Previewing a file | Nested Zip List | Creating Self-Extracting Archives | Password