14 DAY TRIAL // Say you are a user demanding special attention (and by this I mean protection) for your files and folder. How secure do you think them to be? The truth is we never think our information to be protected enough and there will always be a way to breach all defense measures we take; no password is uncrackable and a skilled computer user knows it is only a matter of time to learn it. And if you choose a lengthy password, time is on your side as it would take longer to an intruder to learn your key.
Hiding important files has always been a good way to protect them, even if a simple unrestricted setting in the file manager would reveal it and there was no obstacle in opening them. Truth is that it is quite a pain to find something if it is invisible and only a fortunate event may be able to help in lifting the invisibility cloak off a file or folder.
Folder Lock combines the principles of file/folder hiding and high quality encryption, should the invisibility method fail. The application is specially designed to offer the necessary peace of mind knowing that your information is as well guarded as possible. The price for its protection is $35 but you can try it for a total number of 35 uses which is plenty to test some of its abilities (some features come with a bit of a restriction).
It comes with a non-standard interface tailored under the form of a vault with a key and a cypher. The access is password protected, so, at the very first use, you will have to provide a countersign. Folder Lock has a simple principle to work by: it creates a safe location on your disk where it encrypts all files and folders. It uses 256-bit Blowfish encryption which is among the most respectable standards on the market.
Folder Lock offers to securely guard your precious data in a locker on your disk, which will open the moment you enter the right password to access the application. Filling the locker is as easy as copy/pasting the documents in there. And when the software is closed, you are asked to choose the protection method: Lock, Scramble or Encrypt. The differences between them consist in the security level (with encryption being the highest and file scrambling as a good compromise between security and speed) and speed in completing the job.
Once the files are in the safe, they are protected at kernel level and cannot be accessed with another operating system or in DOS mode. The only thing allowing access is Folder Lock. The location of the locker differs from XP to Vista and, while in the former this is the installation folder of the application, in the latter the vault is situated in the user's documents directory.
The Locker is the ultimate place for the security of your files as it does not allow access without logging into the program first. Our attempts to bypass the security of Folder Lock were unsuccessful on both Vista and XP machines.
A simple lock of the items with the program is also available, applying much less security for your documents than the Locker. For doing this, all it needs is to browse to the desired folders directly from Folder Lock interface through "Lock Folders and Drives" option.
Portability is yet another useful option in the application as it allows you to fully make it movable on an USB thumb drive or any other portable device or even a fix drive, allowing the creation of a Locker in whatever location you want. This way you can secure the files on a memory stick just as if you were on a desktop computer, without the software losing in efficiency.
As good a software Folder Lock may sound to be, there are some huge problems with it. During our testing it took a boot in Safe Mode to disable all protection applied by locking the folders. But this happened only when working with locking folders and drives option. The protection for the files in the Locker proved to be rock solid and could not be penetrated.
Making Folder Lock portable assures that you benefit from the same features and the same security even on portable devices. And all you have to do is to follow a small set of instructions at the end of which the installation folder will be copied to the removable device allowing you to carry the Locker with you all around.
Additional options available in the application include facilitating the erasing of tracks such as recent documents history, files and folders history or data in the clipboard of the computer. An automatic self lock system allows setting up a time interval for performing certain actions (auto lock of the application, PC lock, log off, reboot or computer shutdown) triggered by one of these events: keyboard inactivity, mouse inactivity or simply when set time elapses. I wish there was a combination of keyboard and mouse activity to complete the list of triggers.
Stealth Mode options are restricted for registered users but their purpose is to make Folder Lock totally invisible on your PC. You can hide it from the Desktop, Start Menu, Quick Launch, from Windows Explorer's context menu and even from Add/Remove Programs. Checking all these leaves you with a single option to make the application visible and that is a keyboard combination (Ctrl+Alt+F).
File shredding options for original files after they have been placed in the Locker vary from Medium to Paranoid with a stop at High. Shredding intervenes the moment you choose to encrypt files in the Locker and diminishes the chances for a recovery tool to detect your deleted documents.
As for protection against hackers, Folder Lock has one very simple way to deal with: it can monitor the attempts to "guess" your password and at three strikes out it can either lock the computer (unlocking it is made with the use of the correct password) or turn it off. Sure, this option works better if you have your PC under a password as well. You will also benefit from a brief log that saves a list of invalid passwords used. This way you can see if it was a mistype or someone was really trying to gain access to Folder Lock.
In case you lose your password, only registered users can have a chance at recovering it through Master Key option. Unfortunately, this option as well as skin changing are restricted in the evaluation version of the app, so they could not be tested.
The protection offered by Folder Lock through its Locker is top notch, indeed, but everything else is feeble and easy to bypass with a boot in Safe Mode (on both operating systems). But with the Locker there is a different thing as it proved its efficiency in terms of security of the files.
The Good
Working with the software is definitely not troublesome and the interface is out of the ordinary and good looking.
Locker capabilities are absolutely amazing as it can hide and encrypt your files so that they benefit from the best security.
It can take portable form and protect the data on a removable drive with the same efficiency as on a fix hard disk.
The Bad
Simply locking the folders is faulty and easy to bypass. Safe Mode reveals all locked items (excepting those in the Locker) and if you browse the computer for a locked folder using another software (I tried Foobar) it will be visible (but not accessible; for this, use Safe Mode).
There are far too many restrictions in the evaluation version.
The Truth
Folder Lock can work miracles with protecting your information but only under one condition: the files to be placed in the Locker. Otherwise, you play their protection on the ability of an intruder to boot the computer in Safe Mode (which coincidentally was the first thing to pass my mind during the tests).
Under the present circumstances the application can provide the advertised protection only for the files in the Locker. It would be nice though for the problem with simple locking of the files to be solved as this would make the software much more flexible and turn it easier for the user.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
