What program can you put a password on a folder. What else can you do

Probably, each of us at least once found ourselves in such a situation when personal information, stored on the computer, was accessible to prying eyes. Who will like it? After all, we often store photographs, documents and various information on our computer.

How to make sure that other users who also use your PC cannot see this? The answer is obvious: these documents need to be classified. To do this, you just need to know how to put a password on a folder on your computer. This is exactly what we will talk about now.

on a computer using standard Windows tools?

To do this, we will need a standard one. It does not need to be downloaded anywhere, since it is automatically installed along with the operating system. So, to put a password on a folder on your computer, you need to do the following:

Click right click mouse over the folder that needs to be classified and select "Add to archive".
In the archiver window that appears, check the “Delete files after packaging” checkbox, then go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Set password” button.
In the “Enter Password” window, enter the fictitious code 2 times and confirm it by pressing the “Ok” key.
That's all. WinRAR has created an archive that can only be unpacked after entering the password.

Unfortunately, this method is not convenient for everyone. For example, if the folder contains video files, then archiving will take too much time, and this is a significant disadvantage. Therefore, this method is used only with small files.

How to put a password on a folder on your computer using Anvide Lock Folder?

First, we look for the utility and install it. Using this program you can put a password on any files or folders. Moreover, they become hidden.

Let's launch Anvide program Lock Folder.
In the window that appears, click on the plus sign in the upper left corner and mark the file that we will hide from prying eyes. Click "Ok".
Select the selected file and click on the lock icon.
In the window that appears, enter the password, confirm it and click on the “Close access” button.
Ready. Now files that have a password set will appear as hidden items.

In order to open it, you will need to launch the Anvide Lock Folder program, click on the icon open lock and enter the set password. This is such a useful utility.

How to put a password on a folder on your computer using the Hide Folders program?

The course of action is the same - install the utility on your PC. The operating principle is the same as in the previous method:

Let's launch Hide program Folders.
In the window that appears, click on the plus sign and select the files and folders that you want to hide.
Click the button labeled "Hide". Thus, we turn on the working mode, and all selected files become hidden.

To make folders visible again, you will need to launch Hide Folders and press the "Unhide" key. The only difference here from the previous utility is that one password is set. The program itself will request it when starting.

Putting a password on a folder, as you can see, is not that difficult. The main thing is to have at least one convenient utility in your arsenal.

A computer that is accessed by multiple people may need to protect the data stored on its hard drive. An office machine with personal work or a home PC with storage on its hard drive. classified information- not important.

There are two ways to solve the problem - either, or protect separate folder. Then neither curious household members nor equally inquisitive colleagues will be able to view the contents of the “secret” folder without permission. To learn how to set a password for a folder, read further in the text of our article.

Option 1. Protection using Windows

For PC with OS Windows versions XP and older provide an extremely simple method for putting a password on a folder on your computer. It does not require additional downloading of applications or installation of programs.

To implement it, several conditions must be met:

1. The folder (file) must be stored in the file section NTFS system. To display file system you need to go to START – My Computer – Required Disk(in the screenshot this is drive C).

2. The user must create a separate account with a password in advance.

In order to put a folder under a password, you need to hover over the desired folder(the “Password” folder in the example) and right-click on the icon. In the window that appears, in “Properties”, check the “Cancel” box. general access to the folder." After clicking “Apply” and confirming the password, the folder is closed to outsiders.

This was the first of many methods - the simplest and quick option protect folders with valuable information.

Option 2. Using third-party utilities

Third-party programs for setting passwords on folders – great way data protection. Among the numerous programs it is worth noting such as:

Anvide Lock Folder– a serial compact program, to use which there is no need to install the application on your computer. The program file can be stored on removable media(flash memory, external drive);
Password Protect USB– performs the same functions. Designed to maintain the confidentiality of data in folders stored both on the hard drive and on USB drives;
File lock– the utility is convenient to use. Allows you to protect folders with a password and saves the passwords used for each folder. Using the program you can do complete removal files or folders (it will not be possible to recover deleted data - the utility clears the area on the disk previously occupied by the folder).

The operating principle of such useful utilities can be considered using the example of one of the most popular programs- Password Protect USB. You can download it both in a trial version and in “full volume” on some software portals.

The first use of the utility requires running it:

in the window you need to select Lock Folders;
specify the path to the desired folder;
set a password.

After making sure that the program works correctly, without errors, you can proceed more succinctly:

right-click on the icon of the desired folder;
select “Lock with Password Protect...” in the dialog box;

Enter the password twice in the appropriate lines to set the password and confirm it;
You can use a password hint by checking the “Password Hint” checkbox.

The appearance of the folder will now change - about set password will say "brick" on the icon. Unauthorized attempts to open a folder protected in this way will be met with a prompt to enter a secret code:

To unlock, just right-click on the folder and select in the window the desired line. After entering the password, the folder will again be open to all PC users.

Option 3. Using archivers

Strictly speaking, now we'll talk not really about setting a password on a folder. This method password protects not the folder itself, but its zipped version. At the same time this option is distinguished by a certain elegance - after all, archivers are usually used only for their intended purpose. So creating a password protected version of the folder can be thought of as interesting way data protection.

First of all, you will need the archiver program itself. Download and install on PC WinRAR program, the user gets the opportunity to securely hide important data behind a password. In addition, the document archive takes up much less useful place on a hard drive or flash drive.

How to use the utility to protect folders? Right-clicking on the folder icon will open a window in which you need to select the “Add to archive” line.

In the archiver window that opens, select “Set password”:

All that remains is to ask required password and remember it - recovering passwords to archives is quite difficult.

Now you need to remove source folder. The saved archive will be reliably protected - each time you try to extract information, you will be asked to enter a password.

Good day, dear readers! Today I’ll tell you how to put a password on a folder or file; I think this information will be useful to many. To set a password for a folder, you will need literally a couple of minutes and you will now see for yourself.

Do you have a document with confidential data? Maybe you have to keep personal information where everyone can read it? Have you ever encountered a situation where email you need to send a document containing, for example, phone numbers of friends, bank account, passwords from mailboxes, sites, but is there a possibility that they could be read by a stranger?

If the answer is yes, then you should probably know how to solve such a problem.

I will share the easiest and fastest way to protect data, and explain how to set a password for the archive.

To implement our plans, we will need. Can be used. For example, let's take an ordinary text file, which contains personal information, we will put a password on it.

Winrar

Right-click on the file and select “Add to archive...”.

In the “Archive name and parameters” window, go to the “Advanced” tab.

In the “Advanced” tab, click “Set Password”.

Fill in the required fields:

"Enter password."
“Enter your password again (to verify).”

Then click “OK”.

To create an archive, click “OK”.

Let's check if a password has actually been set for the file? Open the newly created archive and see:

The test was successful! Now your archive will be password protected, and only the owner of the password will be able to open it.

7 - Zip

With the 7-zip program everything is even easier. Right-click on the file and select “7-Zip” - “Add to archive...”

In the “Add to archive...” window, you need to pay attention to the fields called “Enter password” and “Repeat password”. After you have entered the password, click the “OK” button.

So, we looked at examples using archivers. This is one of the easiest ways to set a password. But what if you don't want to archive your files, but still need to hide them? And there are several solutions for this situation.

Let me first note that the methods for setting a password for a folder in Windows XP or Windows 7 are not at all different from the solution presented here for Windows 8. You will need the same actions and the names of the buttons will be the same. Now that you know all the details, we can start hiding important data!

Method without using programs

Those who say that it is impossible to do this without using programs are a little disingenuous or simply have not heard of this method. In addition, I classify this as an easy option, but provided that this code is available.

So, we have a "SECRET" folder. With a slight movement of your hand, right-click inside it and create a text document in it.

Copy the following into the document:

title Folder is locked

if EXIST "MyLock" goto M2

if NOT EXIST Secret goto M4

echo Do you want to block folder?(Y/N)

set/p "cho=>"

if %cho%==Y goto M1

if %cho%==y goto M1

if %cho%==n goto M2

if %cho%==N goto M2

echo Wrong choice.

ren Secret "MyLock"

attrib +h +s "MyLock"

echo Folder unlocked

echo Input password

set/p "PASSWORD=>"

if NOT %PASSWORD%== YOUR_PASSWORD goto M3

attrib -h -s "MyLock"

ren "MyLock" Secret

echo Folder unlocked

echo Wrong password

echo Secret folder is created

Click on the “File” tab and select “Save As” from the drop-down menu.

Now it is important to assign the file extension bat. It's very simple. To do this, just change its name so that it looks like FileName.bat

Don't forget to define the file type as "All files". This is a key part of “making” our folder secret. Although this can be done in another way, I don't want to lengthen the article due to explanations.

Now double click Left-click on the bat file to create a “Secret” folder, into which you can place the most secret information. Launch the bat file and in the window that appears, type Y. The folder is automatically hidden. To make it visible, run the bat file again and enter the password. In our case it is " PASSWORD=". In order to put your own password on a folder, you need to replace the word “PASSWORD” with your password, but do not forget to put the “=” sign after entering your password and only then press “Enter”.

So we figured out, using an example, how to put a password on a folder in Windows 8. It is worth noting that this is rather hiding a folder using a password, but if you do not want to resort to using programs, but set a password using the system’s built-in tools, then this this option will be your salvation. Next we will look at how to put a password on a folder using various programs.

Method using Folder Lock program

Today there are a lot of programs on the Internet for setting passwords on folders. Folder Lock is one of the simplest and freely distributed. In order to download it, you can go to the website. Click on the link or copy to address bar browser. While you wait for the 9 MB to download, you can start viewing the instructions.

So when we run the program, click "Next" then read or don't read license agreement, click “Agree”, and then “Install” and finally “Finish”. As a result, this program will start.

Everything in it is in English, but don’t worry, even if you don’t know English, you can easily understand how to put a password on a folder in Windows 7 or any other system.

In the field that appears, enter the password and click “OK.” We repeat the password and click on “OK” again. A white field appears, into which we simply “drag” the folder with secret data.

The folder is now locked. To unlock it, you need to run the program again, enter the password and click on the “Unlock” button in the newly opened window. The folder will be unlocked and will appear in its original location. If for some reason this method is not suitable for you, then I’ll tell you another option, how to put a password on a folder.

Method using Password Protect program

One more convenient program to save your personal data - Password Protect. It can be downloaded from SoftMail using this link: .

She's quite lightweight. Downloaded and launched. Select “Next” twice. So we have agreed to the terms of use and can continue with the installation. Click “Next” twice more and “Finish” once. Suitable for our purpose trial version program, so select it by clicking “Run Trial Version”.

If you try to open the “SECRET” folder, the program will not allow you to do this and will require you to enter an access password.

Now you know absolutely exactly how to set a password for a folder. I hope this knowledge will be useful to you and will allow you to save all your confidential files and folders.

Here's another program:

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. For some reason, there are no built-in tools in Windows that would allow you to block access to a folder for those who do not know the password to access it.

At the same time, any user of this operating system this is exactly what comes to mind the simplest way save some of your data in confidential form - just put a password on the folder where the “hidden” documents (files or other directories) will be stored.

Well, really, what could be more logical than to password-protect access to a certain directory and put there everything that you would like to protect from prying eyes (spouse, children, hackers, competent authorities, etc.). There may be many goals, but the solution seems obvious - make a kind of safe out of any folder, the code for which only you will know (and how to come up with it, read the article).

How to set a password for a folder after archiving it

However simple options solutions to this problem (built into Windows means) still no. More precisely, there are a number of methods that do not guarantee any confidentiality, but only provide “fool protection”. It doesn't make much sense to rely on them. In this same publication I want to focus on a way to make a safe of the highest security category from any catalog, but for this you will have to install an additional program in the OS.

It was originally built on open source and a priori () did not contain bookmarks that would allow developers to access your password-protected data. Unfortunately, the developers have now sold themselves to BitLocker, whose products are already closed source, which means your password folders can, if desired, be opened using backdoors. However, TrueCrypt can still be found and used for your purposes.

But first, I’ll give you something easier to use, but less reliable way(competent authorities and specialists will be able to hack the directory, but your relatives and friends will not). It lies in the fact that the necessary the folder can be archived with a password, so that a person who does not know it would no longer be able to carry out the unzipping process.

You are all probably very familiar with archivers. Among them there are both paid and free versions. But in addition to its main functionality - creating archives to save disk space and speed up data transfer over the Internet, modern archivers allow you to encrypt archived data and protect it with passwords. It is this opportunity that we will take advantage of.

Let's try to archive a folder and set a password for it first using an example free archiver(7-Zip), and then using the example of a paid one (WinRAR), which, however, is installed on almost all computers. I think that you have at least one of them, and if not, you can always install them by going to the official websites of the developers of these programs ().

How to archive and password protect a directory in 7-Zip

So, if you have it installed in Windows archiver 7-Zip, then in order to archive any folder (or a set of files and directories) in it, it will be enough to right-click on it and select from the drop-down context menu items “7-Zip” - “Add to archive”:

As a result, you will see the archiving settings window, where, among other settings, you can set a password to access this archive, or rather, encrypt the entire contents of the folder (while archiving it), and this code will be the key to decryption.

A feature of “archiving with a password” of directories via 7-Zip is that you can enter the created archive (folder) without entering a password, and when you try to open any file you will be required to enter it:

If you want to password-protect access not only to the files in this directory, but also prohibit viewing the contents of this folder without entering a password, then simply check the “Encrypt file names” box in the archiving settings window (second screenshot from here). After this, when you try to view the contents of the archive, a prompt to enter a password will pop up.

How to set a password when archiving a folder in WinRAR

You can also use the capabilities of the second of the archivers mentioned above to simultaneously archive and password protect a folder - WinRAR. As I already mentioned, it’s paid, but for some reason in RuNet they don’t really take this into account.

If WinRAR is already installed in Windows, then simply right-click on the directory where you want to set a password and select “Add to archive” from the context menu:

In the window that opens, go to the “Advanced” tab and click on the “Set password” button:

Here you will be asked to create and enter a password, which will become the key to your archived folder, and you can also check the “Encrypt file names” box so that no one can view the contents of the archive without entering the password (we already talked about this a little higher):

After that, click OK twice and try to enter the created archive using the password you created. If everything worked out, then you can delete the original folder, the contents of which you want to hide from prying eyes. And as needed, you will simply log into this archived and password-protected folder. It's a little stressful to have to enter your password all the time, but security requires sacrifice. IMHO ()

How to put a strong password on a folder using TrueCrypt

As I mentioned just above, there is various programs, which make it possible to implement such an obvious Windows users The idea is to block access to the folder using a password. There are quite a lot of such programs (for example, Folder Lock, DirLock, Anvide Lock Folder, File lock, Lim LockFolder etc.), but a user who understands computers will most likely be able to bypass them. Therefore, if you want to hide something from your household or work colleagues on your computer, then they will suit you just fine.

But often something more radical is required, when hacking a password-protected folder will require monstrous efforts And computing power, which will naturally deter most potential burglars. These types of instruments include TrueCrypt program, which allows you to set a password not just for a directory, but even for the entire computer (fully encrypt system partition, if you need it).

I have already written in some detail about working with her:

Unfortunately, today the developers no longer release new versions of the program, because they switched to working with BitLocker (Microsoft), but you can download TrueCrypt one of the latest versions via this link. In any case, it works great for me.

Let me explain a little what “put a password on a folder” means in TrueCrypt, because this is somewhat different from the options discussed above. In this program, you create a container from any file that is on your computer and has just been created.

It will be very difficult to discover that it is a container for something, and besides, inside this container (actually a folder with files and other directories) you can create a hidden container, which certainly no one will guess about. Hackers very actively use this program to hide, for example, their correspondence, because it is difficult to even find corrupted (encrypted) information, not to mention hacking it.

So, this very container is encrypted and decrypted on the fly (you won’t even notice it) and you can work with it like a regular directory (even more like a portable hard drive or a flash drive, because this password-protected folder is connected in Windows exactly as new virtual disk).

That. you can copy something there, delete it, move it standard means operating system (via Explorer or, for example, Total Commander).

At the end of the work, you simply unmount the virtual disk, and no one will be able to access your data (who does not know the password). Wonderful thing.

For all the details of working with TrueCrypt for setting passwords on a flash drive, folder, or even the entire computer, see the links given just above. And remember that absolute protection does not exist (you can provide the password yourself under pressure), but among all other methods of data protection, this program is one of the most optimal options. IMHO.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

You can watch more videos by going to

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Password protection without programs

RMB on the folder you are hiding → Properties → “Attributes” block → check the “Hidden” box → confirm the actions.

The second option is to restrict access. But this method is effective if a separate account without Administrator rights is created on the computer for each user.

After completing the action for users, when they log in under their own account, access rights to this directory will be limited.

WinRar and 7-Zip archivers

Most quick way password protection – WinRar archiver or 7-Zip.

Now, when unpacking the archive, a dialog box will appear in which you need to enter a password to execute further actions. Detailed Process look at the video.

Programs with a high level of protection

Password Protect

Password Protect - shareware program Works in all modern OS versions. The utility password-protects and hides folders, making them inaccessible to users who do not know the password.

Good to know! After using the information, you need to re-password it.

Folder Lock

The Folder Lock program is shareware and requires installation on your computer. Its main drawback is the English-language interface.

Conclusion

You can set a password for a folder or file in Windows 7,8 and 10 regular means, using archivers or programs with high level protection. The latter are provided on a shareware basis, but provide the maximum level of confidentiality.