Protecting folders with passwords

To protect a folder with a password, run Folder Guard and choose the Change folder protection settings link:

When the Folder Guard application opens, click on the Protect another folder or file link:

This should prompt you first to specify the folder you want to protect, which you can select by pressing the Browse for folder button:

(Note that only folders can be protected with passwords, so do not select a file to protect here.) On the next screen, select the Lock with a password option and press the Choose the password button to specify the password:

That's it! The password-protected folder will appear in the list of the protected objects in the Folder Guard window. Press the Resume protection button on the toolbar to actually start protecting the folder (or, if the protection is already in effect, press the Apply button to apply the new settings.)

(Note: when you create a password for a folder, Folder Guard applies the Empty and No access restricting attributes to the folder, to make it appear empty and inaccessible while protected.)

If you want to see how the password protection works, run Windows Explorer and try to open the folder you've protected by double-clicking on it. A prompt for the password should appear on the screen:

Note that the password prompt is displayed only when you attempt to open the protected folder by double-clicking on it in a Windows Explorer window, or right-clicking on the folder and selecting Unlock from the shortcut menu:

If you use some other means of opening a folder, such as via a shortcut, or by selecting the folder in the folder tree of Windows Explorer, or via some other program, an Access denied or similar message would be displayed instead of the password prompt.

How to lock the folder back?

Folder Guard offers you an option to lock the folder back when you close the folder:

You can also use the following methods to lock the folder back manually:

- Right-click on the folder and select the Lock command from Windows shortcut menu. Note that you must enable the Add the Lock/Unlock commands to Windows shortcut menu option on the Settings - Protection window for the Lock command to appear on the menu.

- Run Folder Guard and press the Lock all unlocked folders button to lock all previously unlocked folders, if any.

You can also configure Folder Guard to enable protection and lock unlocked folders after a period of user inactivity, when the screensaver wakes up. (See the description of the Settings - Protection window for more information).

How to remove the password from the folder?

If at some point you've decided that you no longer want the folder to be protected by Folder Guard, you can do the following: in the Folder Guard window, right-click on the folder in question and choose the Unrestrict command from the shortcut menu. This will remove the password from the selected folder, and also reset all restricting attributes of the folder to Default. In essence, this will return the folder into the state it was before you started protecting it.

If you don't want to remove the restricting attributes from the folder, and only want to remove the password, you can do it by assigning an empty password to it. That is, use the Password command on the Restrict menu, or right-click on the folder and choose the Password command from the shortcut menu, to display the window asking you to enter a new password for the folder. Leave the new password box empty and press OK, and that will remove the password from the selected folder, while leaving other restricting attributes intact.

Can I password-protect files and programs?

No, only folders can be protected with passwords, sorry.

Does the password protection work over a network, too?

If your computers are connected into a network, you can lock a shared folder with a password, (by installing Folder Guard on the server where the shared folder is physically located), but unlocking such a folder over the network is not possible: if someone attempts to open the protected folder via the network, such a user would simply be denied access to the folder, the password prompt will NOT be displayed. To be able to unlock the folder, the user must login to the server locally or via some remote administration tool.