Protecting the personal information of each one is one of the issues that most worries society. The fact that they discover our personal information, whether they are passwords to access our social networks or simply protect our digital certificate with which we access the different administrative procedures.
Today in many homes there is also a single computer that is used by the whole family. The use of user accounts does not make your computer more secure. But it is a protection barrier against users who in the first instance do not intend to dive into the Windows directory to search for the information you want to protect. In this article we will show you what programs to protect folders with a password we have to feel comfortable and above all safe with the information we keep.
Folder Protect, a shield for your folders
We can start with Folder Protect, one of the programs to protect folders with a password created by the company Kakasoft. It is an excellent solution to password protect your directory information. It will help us to avoid the leakage and possible violation of our data as well as to resist, according to the company, virus attacks and even ransomware problems. It has two versions, one free and one paid. The paid version is priced at € 52.85 which corresponds to a lifetime license and also for 3 teams. Add 256-bit AES encryption, plus a startup password to avoid accessing the program without your master password. We can get it through the following link .
We will delve into its interface. Initially we found a rather austere design. It is mainly composed of 2 points. The first, the directory that we are going to protect, and, on the other hand, the password that we are going to give it. If we open the drop-down on the right, it opens two possibilities to prevent you from losing the information if you lose your password.
VeraCrypt, a help to encrypt your partitions
VeraCrypt through a freeware license helps us encrypt our documents, files, partitions and other means with powerful algorithms such as: AES, Serpent and Twofish , etc. or even a combination of them. In addition, it allows you to create a virtual medium that will have to be authenticated initially before starting Windows.
It is currently in its version 1.17 corresponding to July 2017. In this case it is possible to think that it has not had or will not have any more updates. But we also know that if something works and you have reached the development point you want, it is only necessary to correct the possible bugs that we find.
As we have previously said, it has a freeware license that allows us to use it without restrictions and completely free of charge. We can get it for the different operating systems from its website .
Folder Lock, the plus of security for your directories
NewSotwares brings us the Folder Lock tool, which has the ability to encrypt directories in seconds. Other of its many functions that it has is the function of protecting our external media, be they USB sticks, external hard drives, etc.
A major we can highlight that Folder Lock has a file destroyer , in which we can select to our interest the destruction algorithm that we want, which as advice and for normal use with which it comes by default would be more than enough. Add a password manager that will be very useful to us.
Folder Lock is in its version 7.8.0 and although it has a free version, its full version has a cost of $ 39.95. The design of its interface as we see below is quite friendly for any type of user. We can get it through the following link .
Protect your directories with Windows
If you are a user with an advanced level and also do not want to install third-party programs to protect folders with a password, you can do it with the following method. It is true that we do not protect it with any type of encryption simply with a password and a program that we create, but, for a first level of security it is more than enough. To do this, we create a text document with the notebook with the name that we want in our case “hidden” and we add the extension bat at the end, resulting in “hidden.bat”.
The program consists of the following lines of code:
Where we find “Encrypted Folder” we must replace it with the name of the directory that we want to protect and also, we must replace “YOURPASSWORD” with the password that we want to protect the directory.
We can see that the file has been saved as a program as we see in the following screenshot.
Once we open the mini-program that we have created, it will ask us if we want to hide the directory that we have designated inside. We will give “S” and it will take care of hiding it with the password that we have decided.
And if, on the other hand, we want to carry out the reverse operation, we simply have to reopen the program, enter our password and again and our directory will be available again.
However, we need to do one for each directory that we want to protect. And although it is not the best solution to protect our files, nor does it protect us against ransomware as in the other alternatives, we should not install any other third-party program that we can be suspicious of. This option is compatible with any version of Windows available, therefore we can consider it as an added plus for those people who are still in versions prior to Windows 10.
IObit Protected Folder, an easy way to password protect your directories
We continue with IObit Protected Folder. Developed by IObit, it offers us with a much more visual experience than the rest. Since its installation, it accompanies the user through its interface, initially asking them to fill in the password with which they want to protect the program’s startup and its files, as well as a hint in case they forget. Also, last but not least, once we have finished installing the program, it opens a tutorial on the protection process. We can buy it for € 19.95 from its website.
Folder Guard, protect and hide your information
This time we bring a tool from the company Winability Software, giving us the ability to protect our directories or hide them according to our needs. Also, unlike the rest, we can encrypt the directories we want with a different password. With a starting price for two teams of $ 39.95 we can have version 20.1 of this software through the following link .
LocK-A-FoLdeR, a minimalist option
At less than a megabyte in weight, Lock a Folder is a free tool that can meet the needs of the most demanding users. You simply enter a master password required by the program at startup and add the directories you want to protect. The rest is in charge of this practical tool that, if that were not enough, consumes a minimal amount of resources. We can find it here .
Anvi Folder Locker, click and encrypt
To end this list, we bring you Anvi Folder Locker, another of the best known password protection folders. This will be responsible for encrypting our most personal folders and files. With a very simple user interface, it offers us the possibility of hiding all our most sensitive information by means of a master password , which will be requested when starting the program for the first time. If there is something that you don’t particularly like, it is that once we install this software, it requires you to restart Windows Explorer, something that did not happen with the other alternatives. We can download the software here .
As we can see this is just a sample of all the possibilities that we can find in the market, whether they are paid, or free. What is true is that today we must be careful with our personal information and give greater importance to what information we keep on our computers and how we protect it from possible attacks and spies.