Secure Edit

Secure Edit is a plain text editor that puts a password in front of your notes. It looks and behaves like a Notepad replacement, a large dark window with a text area with undo and search, plus a sorting tool, but every document you save is locked with a password you set before the first save.

Files go to disk either as ordinary TXT or as the program’s own encrypted ECU format, and the encrypted ones open only for someone who knows the password. On a computer shared by several people, that is the whole point.

Around the editor sit a few tools that are unusual for this category. A secure delete overwrites a document before removing it, so the text does not linger on the disk for a recovery tool to find. A dual-pane mode shows two documents side by side. Files can be encrypted or decrypted from inside the program, and a document can be packed into a ZIP archive or, oddly, into a BMP image.

Secure Edit is a small, focused tool rather than a full editor, and it is best judged on the narrow job it was built for.

Writing and saving with a password

The editing side covers what a Notepad user expects. Type and edit with the usual clipboard commands, undo mistakes, and search for a word or phrase through the document. A sorting mode rearranges lines alphabetically, handy for lists of names, addresses or codes. There is no formatting, no fonts per paragraph and no spell checker, because this is plain text and nothing more.

The difference appears at the first save. The program asks for a password before it writes the file, and a password lock can be switched on so the window itself stays closed until the password is entered. Save as TXT when the file needs to open anywhere, or as ECU when it needs to stay private.

Forget the password on an ECU file and the contents are gone, since there is no recovery route built in, so a password manager such as KeePass is a sensible companion for anything that matters.

Encrypting files and what stays undocumented

The encrypt and decrypt commands work on files as well as on the open document, so an existing text file can be locked without retyping it. The maker does not publish which cipher the ECU format uses or how the password is turned into a key, which is the honest gap in the security story.

For anything highly sensitive, tools that document their encryption openly, such as an audited disk encryption tool or a per-file encryptor, give more certainty about what protects the data.

Secure deletion and the export options

Secure Edit overwrites a document once before removing it, which defeats casual undelete tools but falls short of the multi-pass wiping some people expect. The ZIP option packs a document for sending.

The BMP export turns text into an image file, which is more of a curiosity than a security feature, since the text is still readable to anyone who opens the picture.

Dual-pane mode and daily use

Switching Secure Edit to dual-pane mode splits the window so two documents sit next to each other, which suits comparing two lists or copying passages between notes. The dark theme is easy on the eyes for long sessions, and the interface is uncluttered, with the security tools a click away rather than buried in menus.

For everyday coding or large files, a programmer’s editor such as Notepad++ is far more capable, with syntax highlighting and tabs as well as plugins, one of which adds encryption too.

This program trades that depth for simplicity and a password prompt that nobody can skip.

Conclusion

Secure Edit suits someone who keeps private notes on a computer that other people use and wants a text editor that simply refuses to save anything without a password. For shopping lists of account numbers, personal journals or notes that should not be read over a shoulder, the password prompt, the ECU format and the secure delete cover the job with little to learn.

It is not a tool for protecting high-stakes data against a determined attacker, since its encryption is undocumented, and it is too basic to replace a real code editor. Keep it for private notes, keep the passwords in a manager, and use an openly documented encryption tool for anything where the stakes are high.