A quick manual

Lockbox - encrypting your files

Lockbox has six tabs. Use the zip and PDF tabs for things you will share; use the Strong Vault for things you will keep. There is no password recovery - lose the password, lose the data - so use the built-in Suggest strong passphrase button and save the passphrase somewhere safe.

Lock a folder

1. Open the Lock folder tab and Browse to the folder you want to protect.
2. Choose where to save the encrypted .zip.
3. Type a password (or click Suggest strong passphrase) and confirm it. Leave Hide file names ticked for sensitive data.
4. Click Lock folder. You get one AES-256 encrypted .zip, ready to email or store.

To open it later, or on another PC, use the Unlock folder tab - or any tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR with the password.

Encrypt PDFs

1. Open Encrypt PDFs, add one or more PDFs (or a whole folder of them).
2. Choose an output folder, set a password, and click Encrypt PDFs.
3. The protected copies open in any PDF reader once the password is entered. Use Decrypt PDFs to remove a password you know.

Strong Vault (maximum security)

1. Open Strong Vault, add the files and folders to seal, and choose where to save the .azlock file.
2. Set a strong password and click Create vault. It is encrypted with Argon2id and AES-256-GCM - designed to resist even dedicated cracking hardware.
3. To open it, use the Open Vault tab. Only Lockbox opens .azlock files, so keep a copy of Lockbox with your backups.

SpecCore - your PC's specs and health

SpecCore opens on the My PC tab and scans automatically. It only ever reads - it never changes anything on your computer.

My PC - what is inside, and getting drivers

1. On launch, SpecCore lists your CPU, graphics, RAM, motherboard, storage, BIOS and OS, each with its make, model and specs.
2. Where a maker is known, a blue drivers/support button appears - click it to open that manufacturer's official download page (Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, MSI and others).
3. Click Refresh any time to re-scan.

Health check - why is it misbehaving?

1. Open the Health check tab, choose how far back to look (24 hours to everything), and click Scan my PC.
2. Read the banner first: green means clean, amber means worth a glance, red means worth acting on.
3. Each finding explains, in plain English, what happened (a crash, a disk error, an app that stopped) and a what to do line. Flip Issues only to hide the minor noise.

Save a report

Click Save report (top right) to write your specs and health findings to a text file - handy for a repair enquiry, a forum question, or your own records. If you are booking a repair with us, attach it: it tells us what is inside the machine and what Windows has been logging before we even see it.