To protect or not to protect?

When deciding which folders you want Folder Guard to protect, consider the following issues:

The folder in which Windows is installed (usually C:\Windows) must NOT be restricted with the No access or Hidden protection attributes. The same applies also to the folders where the user profiles are stored (usually it is C:\Documents and Settings or C:\Users). As a matter of fact, Windows needs to be able to write data into the files located in such folders to operate properly; if you restrict access to such folders, it may cause Windows to display error messages or even fail to boot. Make sure you know how to reboot Windows in the "safe mode" before trying to protect such folders!

Many Windows applications on your computer are installed into subfolders of the C:\Program Files folder. If you hide or restrict access to this folder or its subfolders, the applications installed there may become inaccessible.

If you assign the Empty attribute alone to a folder, it does not make the folder inaccessible. The contents of such a folder will be invisible for Explorer, but the user will still be able to access files in the folder by other means, such as shortcuts. To make the contents of a folder inaccessible, use the no access attribute as well.