FileGuard X5 is Intego’s idea of securing your data. It is comparable to Knox, another application which allows you to create disk images that you can secure with a password and encryption --a bit like Disk Utility, but with a couple of extras.

Contrary to Intego’s other applications, I found this FileGuard X5 program to be over the edge. A lot of people have attacked me on my comments of VirusBarrier --which I still find a good program-- because Intego pays attention to an interface that doesn’t appeal to everyone. With FileGuard X5, I too believe this is over the edge. The “avatars” you can create don’t belong in an application that is meant to secure your data. 

But let’s first see what FileGuard X5 can do. It can create virtual safes, i.e. disk images that you can secure with a password and encryption so that data residing on the disk image can’t be read by those without the correct password.

In terms of security, FileGuard X5 offers three levels of passwords to control access to files within a safe, so that you can have a sort of Access Control List (ACL) management inside a safe. However, this feature by itself is about the only extra you get in comparison to Disk Utility’s built-in capabilities.

The rest of FileGuard X5 revolves around how safes look, how you can access them --by setting an avatar that will float above every other window, etc. Yes, there’s also the ability to erase safes securely when you don’t use them anymore, and the ACL functionality is well implemented, but the rest of the program, as far as I can see, is interface nonsense.

This sounds harsh, but I truly believe you can get the same level of security using Disk Utility. It may perhaps be a bit less user-friendly, and there will be less easy ACL management, but the basics are the same, and Disk Utility is free, while FileGuard is not.