Folder password properties

If you've protected a folder with a password, you can modify the effects of such protection by adjusting the properties of the folder password. The screen to choose such properties is displayed as one of the steps while you are creating a new password. You can also modify the properties of an existing folder password, by clicking on the link with the short description of the password in the Locked view:

You can use this screen to change the properties of a folder password:

This screen contains the following areas:

Who can use this password:

Any local user

If you check this box, then any user who logs in to this computer through the desktop would be able to unlock the folder by entering the correct password. Note that if the user logs in to the desktop using a remote access tool such as Remote Desktop, such a user is still considered a local user.

Any network user

If you check this box, then any user who connects to this computer through the Network folder would be able to unlock the folder by entering the correct password. Note that in order to be able to connect to the protected folder from another computer via the Network folder, the protected folder must be shared first (or located within a shared folder), using the standard folder sharing procedure offered by Windows. If the protected folder is not shared by Windows, then this option cannot magically enable other users to connect to the folder via the network.

Note: At least one of the above options must be selected. You can also select both boxes, if you want both the local and network users use the same password.

This password unlocks:

Full access

This option would give the user a full, unrestricted access to the folder after the user has entered the correct password.

Read-only access

If this option is selected, then the user would be able to see the contents of the folder and open the files from that folder for viewing, but saving changes back to the protected folder would be denied. Note that the Read-only access does NOT prevent other operations such as printing or copying the files to other folders; it only prevents saving modifications back to the protected folder.

Options

Notify the user about the access granted

If this option is selected, then after the user enters the correct password, Folder Guard displays a message with information that either the full or read-only access is granted to the user. The message also contains a link that the user can press to open the unlocked folder with File Explorer. If this option is not selected, then no such message is displayed after the folder is unlocked.

Lock the folder when the Explorer window is closed

If this option is selected, then when the user closes the original Explorer or application window that was used to unlock the folder, the folder would be automatically locked without asking the user to confirm. If this option is not selected, then the user would see a message asking them to select whether the folder should or should not be locked after closing the window. This option has no effect on other Explorer or application windows that were not used to unlock the folder, even if such windows currently display the protected folder. It may not have effect also on the computers where the Windows option "Launch folder windows in a separate process" is enabled. In such situations, use the notification icon to lock the folders back.

Lock the folder when the screen is locked

If this option is selected, then when the user locks the screen by, for example, pressing the Win+L keys, or when the screen is locked due to a screen saver becoming active, Folder Guard will automatically lock this folder. If this happens, then when the user unlocks the screen and logs back on to Windows they will need to unlock the folder again, to continue working with it. If this option is not selected, then the folder remains unlocked when the screen is locked.

Advanced

Press this button to open a menu to control the following advanced options:

Clear Explorer history when this folder is locked

If this option is selected, then, after locking the folder, Folder Guard will also attempt to erase the history information related to the protected folder that is kept by Windows Explorer. Note that this option does not remove all traces of the protected folder from the computer. Also, other applications may remember this folder in their own history lists.

Prompt to optimize for faster network updates

If a password has the Any network user option enabled, then in some sitiations using such a password to unlock a folder over LAN may not work properly if Windows uses network cache to display the contents of the shared folders. In such a situation, the contents of the unlocked folder may not appear immediately after unlocking it, or the contents may remain visible after locking the folder back.

If you experience such inconsistencies when unlocking or locking a password protected folder over LAN, you may want to enable the Prompt to optimize for faster network updates option to detect such conditions on the client computers and, if detected, display a message to the end user propting them to optimize the computer for faster network access:

If the user selects Yes, the optimization would be performed by adding the following data to Windows Registry on the client computer: (Note that the administrator approval is required to perform the optimization.)

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet /services / LanmanWorkstation / Parameters

Type: DWORD

Name: DirectoryCacheLifetime

Value: 0

If alerting the user and prompting to perform the optimization is not desirable, you may want to clear the option Prompt to optimize for faster network updates and use an alternative method of adding the registry data described above, such as a logon script or Group Policy.