Helicon Photo Safe

It is a well known fact that images can be found much faster if they are properly organized. You can place them in different folders, according to where and when you take those photos, place them according to their categories and so on. The problem is that you can manage pictures using only one of these methods, if you are using Windows Explorer. With Helicon Photo Safe, images can be organized using many criteria at the same time, without affecting their location on the hard drive. You can perform many other tasks as well and the involved options can be found easily on the software's user friendly interface.

The setup kit is 39.4 Mb large, which may take longer to download with a slow Internet connection. During the setup process, you can opt for a full, compact or custom installation, which involves selecting certain components yourself. You will not have any problems running the program on later Windows versions and the low system requirements allow you to use it even on older computers.

You can use Helicon Photo Safe's interface to explore the folders on your hard drive, just like in a standard explorer window. The files are filtered, so the program will reveal only images and video files, in certain formats. A tree structure, on the left side of the interface, will make it easier to jump from one folder to another. You can bring up other tree menus, in the same area, to access your images by their categories, ratings or date of creation. Among the additional tree menus, you can find a search function with flexible parameters.

Images are organized automatically in the calendar menu, due to their tag information. You can rate or associate your pictures with a specific category by selecting them and using the options on the toolbar. Other options, in the same area, allow you to import images, burn them to a CD or DVD, view them in full screen mode, add geotags and more. You may also upload your pictures to Facebook, Picasa or Flickr. Just select your images and click the appropriate option on the toolbar and a new window will show up, where you may add other files or entire folders and click a button to start uploading immediately.

Helicon Photo Safe focuses on protecting your pictures as well. It lets you place them in secure folders, called safes, which can be created and accessed on a separate tree menu. While creating a safe, you can choose an encryption type. The software offers three encryption algorithms, for adding images to password protected Zip archives, protecting them against advanced users or security experts. To prevent losing your password, you can enable an option for password recovery and type in your email address.