Protected Folder 1.3

Overview

Having all your sensitive files and data in a laptop or a desktop computer than can be accessed by others definitely needs attention, otherwise they could easily be accessed and lead to unfortunate events. Therefore, it’s wise to protect your personal files and folders- and that’s without having to spend a lot of time or effort in this process. All you need is a good tool that can lock them and make them accessible only to you- a tool like Protected Folder. This product can prevent items from being seen, accessed or modified just by adding them to its list of locked files/folders.

Installation

To install Protected Folder just launch the installer and let the setup wizard guide you through the steps, which are very few actually. You won’t have to configure any advanced settings whatsoever, so don’t worry about that. The main installation process will be complete in no time as well.

No malicious items (viruses, trojans, etc.) are included in the setup package, and no 3^rd-party advertised apps are distributed with it either.

Supported operating systems are Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 (32/64-bit).

Interface

The first time you run the program you will be asked to create a new password which you will be using to access the program and the locked files. You can also choose to add a password hint as well, to help you remember the password in case you ever forget it.

The program’s main window has a metal-ish look, and kind of resembles a safe (especially with that lock on the top left corner). It has two buttons at the top right corner (Options and Support) and a big box with a white background in the center, which displays a list of all the items that are currently locked. Below this box there are a few more buttons, which are used to add and remove files from that list.

The status bar at the bottom shows what kinds of restrictions are set for the locked folders (Hide, Deny Read and Deny Write).

Pros

There are 3 lock options available in Protected Folder:

1. Hide: This will hide the locked files from explorer and other programs.
2. Deny Read Access: This option will prevent the locked files from being read (opened), copied and run.
3. Deny Write Access: This option will prevent the locked files from being moved, deleted and modified.

Users have the ability to drag and drop files and folders into the program in order to quickly add them to the list of locked items.

The Exclude List contains by default all system files and folders which shouldn’t be locked so that the system doesn’t become unstable while trying to access them. This list can be edited however, and the users can manually add their own items in that list.

You can open locked items directly from within Protected Folder.

Cons

The trial version of the program only has 20 locks before you have to buy it to use it further.

Alternatives

A very good alternative is Folder Lock (paid), which has tons of features and makes sure that all locked files and folders are extremely safe by using very secure encryption protocols. Other alternatives are AES Crypt (free), Easy File Locker (free), My Lockbox (freemium), LocK-A-FoLdeR (free) and Drag’n’Crypt ULTRA (free).

Conclusion

Protected Folder is an application for locking personal files suitable for the average user, since it doesn’t have any advanced and complicated features, and protects all kinds of files and folders efficiently.