I'm looking for software (hopefully freeware) that will encrypt files in Windows and then decrypt these same files on Mac. I only need to encrypt/decrypt small files. I've done searching but haven't found that mentioned anywhere.
Just use GnuPG. https://www.gnupg.org/download/ http://www.gpg4win.org/ You can use symmetrical encryption with passphrases, or normal key-based.
mirimir, thank you for the recommendation. At first look GnuPG looks a bit more complex than I'm hoping for. If I don't identify any other options I'll do more reading, however, I won't use it very much and I'd like something quite intuitive or I'll probably forget how to use it......I'm getting on in age and my memory is definitely not what it used to be. Thanks again.
There are GUI wrappers for GnuPG in Windows, OSX and Linux. For your purposes, you can just encrypt using a password (the symmetric option). For multiple files, you can archive (tar, zip, 7zip, etc) first. Easier, but less secure, is to just zip or 7zip with a password.
7zip has the advantage that it has the option to also encrypt filenames, which can be the source of information leakage. I use peazip as the GUI, which I like.
Yes, that's a good feature. My workaround for zip is to first zip a file or folder, naming the archive as "foo" or whatever. I put that archive in a folder, named "foo" or whatever, and then zip that folder with a password. So adversaries can't see filenames without the password. But 7zip is easier
Thank you both for your recommendations. I will start off with 7zip and play around with GnuPG as time permits. I
You might want to look at TrueCrypt as well. I use it with Windows and Linux going back and forth all the time. Using TC encrypted flash drives I am able to access the contents easily on either operating system. Its FREE of course. While, I have no experience with a MAC it would work just fine there too. You are not using system disk encryption, only file/archival purposes. disclaimer: of course the filesystem that you use with/in the TC volumes needs to be one that both OS's can recognize and work with. There are many choices there! I also use 7zip where I just want to move a file or "mildly" encrypt it during transit to say a family member. 7zip is not really something to keep numerous files on and have full convenience working with them among different computers. BUT - a TC flash drive works great since its fully compatible with all my systems. My .02
