Lock files and folders with passwords:

If, however, you want to be able to unprotect individual files or folders, while keeping the rest of the objects protected, Folder Guard lets you do that, too.

First of all, you should set up the protection settings for the file(s) and/or folder(s) you want to keep protected, as described in the following articles:

• How to hide a folder
• How to hide a file

(If you have not read the above articles yet, now it's a good time to do that). When setting up the protection, don't make the file or folder hidden, because the technique described below will not work with the hidden objects; instead, assign the empty attribute to the folder you want to protect (to make it appear empty when the protection is in effect), and also assign the no access attribute to both the files and folders. That would keep the protected objects visible, but their contents would be inaccessible to the programs.

Now, while you are still in Folder Guard, highlight the file or folder that you want to "unlock" independently on the others, and choose Edit - Unlocking Password command from the menu or toolbar:

Choose a password and press OK. Note that a little yellow key sign has appeared next to the folder's icon; this is the indication that this folder has an unlocking password assigned to it.

One more thing to do: choose File - Settings from the menu, select the Misc page, and make sure that the Add lock/unlock commands to the Windows shortcut menu option is checked:

If you use Windows Me, 98, or 95, then you also need to enable the Monitor user logon option, on the Startup page of the Settings dialog box. If the Monitor user logon option was not enabled before, you will need to restart the computer for the new settings to take effect. (This is not necessary if you use Windows XP, 2000, or later versions of Windows.)

Now enable the protection, as usual (see this article for the details) and look at the object you have protected through a Windows Explorer window. The object should be visible (we have not assigned the hidden attribute to it, remember?). However, when you attempt to open it, a prompt for the unlocking password should appear on the screen:

If you have entered a correct unlocking password, the folder should become unprotected and you should be able to work with the files and subfolders it contains without restrictions. If you don't enter the correct unlocking password, the folder will remain protected.

Another way to display the password prompt is to right-click on the protected file or folder with the mouse, to display its shortcut menu, that should contain the Unlock command:

(If there is no Unlock command on the menu, check that you have assigned an unlocking password to this particular object as described above, and also that you have enabled the option to add the Lock/Unlock commands to the shortcut menu. Again, see above for the details.)

If the folder is already unlocked, then the Lock command would be shown on the shortcut menu (instead of Unlock), which you can use to lock the folder back, after you have finished working with the files it contains.

Did you find this information useful? Wait, there is more:

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