topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Wednesday December 11, 2024, 10:06 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Author Topic: Lock a folder down?  (Read 21691 times)

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Lock a folder down?
« on: November 01, 2005, 12:21 AM »
It's so simple, and yet I'm amazed I haven't found a simple way to do this yet. I mean, it's almost embarrassing! My sister asked me the other day about how she could lock a folder down so she could access it only after entering a password, and well, I couldn't answer that question. I've been looking for this kind of tool myself for months and never found anything that does just that and is secure. Well, nothing short of this, but it's not free :/ Is there no free alternative?

JeffK

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 363
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2005, 12:54 AM »
That's a good question.  I also have not found a free or even cheap answer to this.  I purchased FileGhost from asmdev.net recently but I had problems with it on my machine and am waiting for an upgrade.  This software firm produces Dupetrasher for managing duplicate files and I find it very good.

Jeff

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2005, 01:23 AM »
To be fair, Folder Lock is supposed to be excellent. It's supposed to be very good at what it's supposed to do, so that's great. I was just wondering if there's anything in the freeware world similar to it in terms of function, and perhaps even quality.

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2005, 02:59 AM »
What happened to this..? Gotta bump it :/

tsaint

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 497
  • Hi from the a*** end of the earth
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2005, 05:33 AM »

tsaint

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 497
  • Hi from the a*** end of the earth
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2005, 05:46 AM »
... or :
Cryptainer LE Free Encryption Software at
http://www.cypherix....yptainerle/index.htm

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2005, 07:55 PM »
I guess when we start talking encryption software, this one's hard to beat: http://www.truecrypt.org/

My problem with it has always been that it seemed complicated to use and therefore hard to recommend someone like my sister who'd simply like to slap a password on any folder on the system. I'll have to give TrueCrypt another shot. And thanks for the suggestions.. but the first one isn't exactly what I'm looking for, and the second one is situated in a field that TrueCrypt seems to dominate without question. My conclusion: I need to re-check out TrueCrypt.

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,914
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2005, 09:39 PM »
don't forget bestcrypt, perhaps one of the better known full drive encryption tools:
http://www.jetico.com/

and drivecrypt as well:
http://www.securstar.com/

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,914
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2005, 09:39 PM »
this thread kind of got derailed into encryption... still be nice to hear about more lightweight folder locking/hiding utils.

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2005, 10:09 PM »
Yeah. Encryption isn't hard to find.. TrueCrypt is amazing. It's far more advanced than I need it to be, and hell, I don't even use encryption. I wouldn't know what for ;). I probably will start using it to hide the nekkid pics on my HD from those occasional PC hoggers that come as guests...

Anyway.. it's hard to believe there is no free, easy to use app that will allow me to simply slap a password on any folder on the system. It seems so simple! It's all I ask.. a password that will keep any folder locked down. If double-clicked it should simply show a PW dialog.. if you enter the correct PW, it lets you in, if not, well, then not!

Simple enough? I'd think so.

alexp

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 41
  • Is cheese the plural of choose?????
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2005, 11:39 PM »
I think I have found what you are after, it doesn't work quite like what you are after, you have to select lock/unlock from the contect menu but all it does is lock the folder.

You can find it here

Why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose?

moerl

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 404
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2005, 03:32 AM »
That looks just like the type of thing I was looking for.. I'll check it out when I get around to it. Thank you :)

wolf7

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2005
  • *
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2005, 03:03 AM »
Here's a good free program (well, a free version anyway ;) ) that can Lock files and folders using encryption. http://www.winguardpro.com/   The free version has a few other useful features as well.

Nighted

  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 572
  • Meat Popsicle
    • View Profile
    • Nighted@deviantART
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #13 on: November 18, 2005, 12:49 PM »
Another free one: EncryptOnClick

I`m a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule.

cowcrombie

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2005, 04:11 AM »
one way you an hide a folder,

have the folder very deep into the directory. e.g. C:\WINDOWS\system32\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys (not very deep but couldn't be bothered loooking for a deeper one) and hide it in the properties window.

or just zip the fold up and put a password on it

nwtim

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2005
  • *
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 6
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2005, 04:11 PM »
In W2K Pro, I used to just create a group called "No Access Lock" or something like it and use folder permissions to toggle whether the folder was available or not.  A user would then need Admin privileges to change the file/folder permissions to make it accessible again.  It was a lightweight way to control the accessibility of a folder.  Unfortunately it doesn't work the same way in WinXP Pro and I've been unable to figure out a way to do it (with permissions).  I think I'll give WinGuard a shot.

urlwolf

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,837
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2007, 06:09 AM »
Here is a very good alternative, and it's donationware:
http://hide-folder.basisbase.com/

urlwolf

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,837
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #17 on: April 08, 2007, 06:31 AM »
update: no NTFS support for that last one... sorry for the false alarm.

PhilB66

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,522
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #18 on: April 08, 2007, 09:10 AM »

nosh

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,441
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #19 on: April 08, 2007, 10:37 AM »
I have been used Magic Folders for years now. It's not free but it's a solid app.

I would love to know exactly how these folders hiding apps do what they do... I have a feeling it's got something to do with low level access and modification of the FAT but that's just my guess. Could somebody please enlighten me. 

laughinglizard

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 95
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #20 on: April 08, 2007, 12:31 PM »
I've been using LockNote for about a year now, its very easy to use.
Easy enough for anyone who can double click and/or drag and drop.
Its freeware, licensed under GPI.

http://locknote.steganos.com/

laughinglizard

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 95
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #21 on: April 08, 2007, 12:49 PM »
Whooops, sorry about LockNote, its mostly for text files and passwords.

For folders and files Axcrypt is solid.

http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/

Usage is pretty simple; to encrypt files or folders just right-click them and select "encrypt." while double clicking on encrypted files lets you edit or view them with the program of your choice. Closing the open files automatically re-encrypts them.

PhilB66

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,522
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Lock a folder down?
« Reply #22 on: April 09, 2007, 10:45 PM »