Deny Access

Your computer is indeed a virtual space, but it’s also a personal one, with a lot of files and folders you might not want everyone to easily access. However, you can’t fit everything on your computer with a password, which might leave some elements vulnerable. Luckily, there are various specialized applications like Deny Access that target entire folders, locks and hides them so only you can gain access.

The application takes only a little time to install on your computer and before you know it, all features are yours for testing. A compact main window greets you once it’s launched, with all elements clearly visible, such as the selection drop-down menu, trigger buttons, and list of folders you want to lock.

Unfortunately, you are only able to use the application on FAT file systems, which has a powerful impact on practicality. Even so, the selection drop-down menu lets you view all connected drives, regardless of the file system they use, but folders are only displayed if a supported one is selected.

The application gives you the possibility to choose from two different targets. One of them refers to entire directories, while the other only takes Autorun.ini files into consideration. These options determine what’s shown on the list, as well as how the overall process functions.

You can only select one folder at a time, which is then hidden from plain sight. However, there’s not other option for extra security, such as the possibility to add password protection, or any other kind of safety for that matter.

What’s more, you need to be really careful on what operation is performed once a folder is hidden, because running a disk check operation can either get locked files corrupted, missing, or even permanently inaccessible.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Deny Access comes with good intentions, and wants to help you add an extra layer of security to important files and folders on your computer. However, the way this is done doesn’t quite provide the safety, nor at least the feeling of security, with a shallow set of features and existing risk of data corruption.