FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) |
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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) |
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No, Folder Guard does not require product activation. You only need to enter your license key into the program after you have purchased a license for its continued use, that's all. You can reinstall the software and enter your license key in it whenever you want, any number of times (assuming you are not installing the product on more computers than included in your license, of course). Yes, you can use the same license key, provided that you are installing it on no more computers than included in your license. Please refer to the file License.txt (installed along with other files of Folder Guard) for the detailed description of the terms of using this software on more than one computer. For information on our site license and quantity discounts, please visit our Online Store. Folder Guard prompts you to enter your license key when you run it: simply press the Enter License Key button on the Welcome screen and enter your licensing information into the form. Alternatively, you can run Folder Guard, choose the Help - About command from its menu, and click on the Enter License Key button. IMPORTANT: When entering your licensing information, make sure you enter your name and the license key exactly as they are shown on your license certificate, including all capitalization and punctuation. Otherwise, Folder Guard may not accept the license key or may not register your information properly. You may wish to copy and paste the name and key from our message into the form, to avoid typos. This software comes with a built-in license that allows you to use it for free for the first 30 days after the installation. When this initial evaluation period expires, Folder Guard continues to operate as usual, except that it starts to display a reminder message informing you that the evaluation period has expired. Note that if another user is using your computer while the reminder message is displayed, the user can click on the message and that would disable the protection of folders that you have set up. To prevent other users from being able to access your protected files and folders, please purchase a license for the continued use before the expiration of your evaluation period. If you have lost the Master Password of Folder Guard, you can reset it by running the Emergency Recovery Utility. If you have forgotten an unlocking password for a folder, or some other password used by Folder Guard, simply run Folder Guard and use its appropriate command to set up a new password. If you have not installed a fresh copy of Folder Guard yet and you still cannot access your protected folders, it means that the problem is not related to Folder Guard: when Folder Guard is not installed, it is not protecting anything. Most probably, the NTFS permissions of Windows prevent you from accessing your files and folders. To restore access, you need to "take ownership" of your files and folders. Please refer to Windows Help for more information or for the instructions on how to do that. No, Folder Guard does NOT encrypt or otherwise modify your files in ANY WAY. Folder Guard protects your files dynamically, that is, it intercepts requests from other programs to open files or list the contents of folders, and then rejects such requests for the files in the folder you have chosen to protect. The files and folders themselves remain undisturbed during this process, in their original condition. As a result of such design, there is no danger of losing your documents if you lose your encryption key. On the other hand, your secret folder is protected only on your computer, where Folder Guard is installed and configured. If you require your private files to be protected even when taken to another computer, or when Windows or Folder Guard are not running, then you need an encryption program. Please visit the following web page for more information about our encryption products: No, Folder Guard does not currently protect such folders, only the "real" folders (that is, the folders that actually exist on your hard disk and which you can use to store arbitrary files) can be protected with it. However, you may want to use the permissions of Folder Guard to restrict many aspects of the functionality related to the "virtual" folders. You can hide or prevent access to your desktop icons in the same way as you would protect any other file or folder. The only trick when protecting the desktop items is to determine the correct locations of these items on your hard disk. (Use the Go to Special Folder command to locate such folders.) Keep in mind that if you use Windows XP or Windows 2000, there are two physical folders which are used by Windows to display icons on your desktop: one is your personal desktop folder, and the second one is the "common" desktop folder, used to store the items common to all users of your computer. The Go to Special Folder command of Folder Guard lets you locate either of these folders easily. Windows stores the Start Menu items in a special folder on your hard disk. (You can use the Go to Special Folder command to locate this folder.) Keep in mind that if you use Windows XP or Windows 2000, there are two physical folders which are used by Windows to display icons on your Start Menu: one is your personal folder, and the second one is the "common" folder, used to store the items common to all users of your computer. You can restrict access to the Start Menu items by restricting access to such folders, or to the shortcuts they contains. An alternative way of restricting users from using the Start Menu commands is by setting up the permissions of Folder Guard. One way is to use the permissions of Folder Guard. An alternative method is to restrict access to the CPL files, located usually in the C:\Windows\System or C:\Windows\System32 folder. Each of the CPL files is a module responsible for one or several groups of settings of Control Panel:
Does Folder Guard require product activation?
Can I use the same license key to install Folder Guard on several computers?
How do I enter the License Key?
What happens when the evaluation period expires?
I've lost Folder Guard password. What should I do?
I've reinstalled Windows and cannot access my protected folders. What should I do?
Will Folder Guard encrypt my files?
Can I protect the "virtual" folders such as My Computer?
How do I protect icons on my Desktop?
How do I protect my Start Menu?
How do I protect Control Panel of Windows?
| Module | Control Panel icons |
| ACCESS.CPL | Accessibility Options |
| APPWIZ.CPL | Add/Remove Programs |
| DESK.CPL | Display |
| HDWWIZ.CPL | Add/Remove Hardware |
| INETCPL.CPL | Internet settings, user accounts on Windows 95,98,Me |
| INFRARED.CPL | Infrared |
| INTL.CPL | Regional settings |
| JOY.CPL | Game Controllers |
| MAIN.CPL | Fonts, Keyboard, Mouse, PC Card (PCMCIA), Printers |
| MMSYS.CPL | Sounds |
| MODEM.CPL | Modems |
| NCPA.CLP | Network connections |
| NETCPL.CPL | Network settings |
| NUSRMGR.CPL | User manager on Windows XP |
| ODBCCP32.CPL | ODBC Data Source Administrator |
| PASSWORD.CPL | Passwords |
| POWERCFG.CPL | Power Management |
| SYSDM.CPL | System |
| TELEPHON.CPL | Telephony |
| THEMES.CPL | Desktop Themes |
| TIMEDATE.CPL | Date/Time |
(You may have other CPL files, or not all of the files listed above, depending on the software installed on your computer).
To restrict access to Control Panel, use Folder Guard to restrict access to the appropriate CPL files, by assigning the no access attribute to them.
You can protect access to Outlook Express by restricting access to its executable file, msimn.exe, which is usually located in the C:\Program Files\Outlook Express folder.
You can also protect individual folders used by Outlook Express by restricting access to the appropriate message files, located in the Store Folder of Outlook Express. (You can find out the location of this folder by choosing the Tools - Options command from the main menu of Outlook Express, selecting the Maintenance page, and pressing the Store Folder button).
Note that if you use Outlook (not Express), you can protect its whole message store, but not the individual folders, because, unlike Outlook Express, Outlook keeps all its folders in a single message file.
You can use Folder Guard to restrict access to folders located on the removable drives, but such protection will be in effect only on your computer, where Folder Guard is installed and configured properly. If you connect the removable drive to some other computer (that does not have FolderGuard on it), the folders on the removable drive will NOT be protected.
If you need your removable drives to be protected on other computers as well, you need to use an encryption program. Please visit the following web page for more information:
You can use Folder Guard to restrict access to the CD/DVD drive of your computer, but such protection will be in effect only on your computer, where Folder Guard is installed and configured properly. If you insert a disc in the CD/DVD drive of some other computer (that does not have FolderGuard on it), the disc will NOT be protected.
If you need to create password-protected CD/DVD discs, you need to use an appropriate encryption program. Please visit the following web page for more information:
If you restrict access of hide a folder with Folder Guard, then virtually no program, including the anti-virus one, will see or be able to open the files in the protected folder. To allow your anti-virus program check all files for viruses, you need to either disable the protection before scanning your hard drive for viruses, or add your anti-virus program to the Trusted Programs list.
It depends on the backup program you have. If the backup is performed in the DOS mode, or some other mode when Windows is not operating, then Folder Guard will not be protecting your files, and the backup program should be able to backup all your files, as usual. If, however, your backup program runs under Windows, when folder protection is in effect, then it will have no access to your protected files, and it will not back them up! To allow your backup program to backup your protected files, you need to either disable the protection before starting the backup program, or add your backup program to the Trusted Programs list of Folder Guard. Don't forget to test your backup set of files to make sure your protected files have actually been backed up! To prevent other users from running the backup program and being able to access your protected documents that way, you may want to protect the backup program itself with a password.
If you have set up a custom icon for a folder and then protected it with the no access attribute, then when you enable the protection, the custom icon of that folder may be reverted back to the regular one.
In order to keep the custom icon of a folder, you need to configure Folder Guard to allow access to the file desktop.ini that the folder contains. That is, run Folder Guard, select the folder in question, then choose Protect - Add file from the menu, and double click on the file desktop.ini to add it to the list.
(If you don't see the name desktop.ini in the list, you may need to adjust your file view options: choose Start - Control - Folder Options from the Windows Start Menu, select the View page, select the Show hidden files and folders option, and also clear the Hide extensions for known file types option. Then repeat the Protect - Add file command of Folder Guard, now you should see the desktop.ini file in the list.)
After you have added the desktop.ini file to the list of objects that could be protected with Folder Guard, select the desktop.ini file in the Folder Guard window and assign the full access attribute to it. Save the changes and enable the protection, as usual, and now its custom icon should remain intact.
Yes, you may give the installation files of our programs to your friends and associates. However, you may NOT share your license key, if any, with anybody else. Please remember that the license key we provide you with are for your own use only. If your friends like our programs, please let them purchase their own license keys. To avoid possible confusion, please give out the original installation files that you may download from our web site.
There are several other simple, but important conditions which we impose on further redistribution of our products. Please refer to the file License.txt in the folder where you have installed Folder Guard for the complete description of our distribution requirements.
This user's guide is available online in the printed-friendly format:
http://www.winability.com/folderguard/users-guide-printable.htm
Simply open the link above in your web browser and use the web browser's Print command to print it out on your printer.
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WinAbility® Software Corporation.
All rights reserved.