With Folder Guard, you can restrict access not only to folders, but also to individual files and programs. If you want to protect a file or a program, first use the Add file on the Protect menu to add the document file or program's executable file in question to the list of objects displayed in the main window of Folder Guard. After that, the procedure of protecting the file is virtually the same as with folders: just assign the desired protection attributes to it, set up an unlocking password for the file, if needed, and so on.

For example, suppose you want to protect access to Internet Explorer. First, use the Add file on the Protect menu to browse for its program file iexplore (or iexplore.exe), usually located in the folder C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer. This will add the file iexplore.exe to the main window of Folder Guard:

Now assign the appropriate protection attribute to this file. For instance, if you want the users to be able to use Internet Explorer, but not be able to delete it, assign the read-only attribute to the file iexplore.exe. Or, if you don't want users to be able to run Internet Explorer at all, assign the No access attribute to it (as shown on the screenshot above). Now enable the protection, and from now on any attempt to open Internet Explorer will be interrupted with the Access denied or similar message. To allow yourself to use Internet Explorer, simply press the hot key or disable the protection in some other way.

When protecting programs, be careful not to protect access to some system file used by Windows, because doing so may cause Windows not to work properly! For example, do not restrict access to the file explorer.exe, because this file is used by Windows not only to browse your hard disk, but also to display your computer desktop! If you don't want users to browse certain folders, protect the folders themselves, rather than Windows Explorer.

Keep in mind that if you want to restrict access to a program or a file that you usually open via a shortcut, then you should protect the target file, not the shortcut! If you only restrict access to the shortcut, then users would still be able to open the file or run a program directly, bypassing the shortcut.