Folder Guard

Windows may come with some interesting features, but when it comes to privacy, it leaves much to be desired. You may hide your folders, or place them in a hard to reach place, but they can still be accessed by anyone. After a simple search process, any data can be found, regardless where and how you hide it. The features provided by Folder Guard will make you want to forget standard tools. It can password protect any folder, hide it, restrict access to it and much more. You will only have to select a folder and choose how to protect it.

The application can be downloaded swiftly due to the lightweight nature of the setup file. You can install it, just as fast, on any operating system, from Win 2000 to Win 7 and it will not require powerful hardware. During the setup process, the computer must be connected to the Internet at all times.

You can access your computer's folders in a tree structure, displayed on the main area of the interface. After selecting a folder, you can see their files in the same area by clicking a button on the left edge of the window. An item in the tree structure can be protected with the aid of a wizard, which will display step by step instructions. A more direct approach is to select a folder and click one of the buttons on the toolbar. This way, you can hide a folder or its contents, set it to a read-only state, restrict certain or all users from accessing it, and more. According to what function you enable, a small icon will appear in the tree structure, next to the selected folder.

You can apply multiple protections to a folder. For example, it is possible to set a password for a folder and hide its contents at the same time. After making these simple settings, they will take effect after clicking the Toggle Protection button on the toolbar. Your folders will stay protected as long as this option is activated. The software itself can run in stealth mode, so no one can access the interface in order to disable your protection measures. When you minimize the interface, you will not be able to restore it from the taskbar or system tray. It can only be brought up with a hot key, which you can set in the general options panel. When restored, the program will also prompt for a master password, set by the user.