Freeware Folder Hiding software suggestions

Hi :

What freeware folder hiding software can I use to conceal personal folders I have in my PC? I already have an encryption software which is ashampoo magic security which I use to encrypt files. Sometimes I use the encryption offered by Glary Utilities.

I tried TrueCrypt before (it did the job) but was a bit more "techy" for me and it didn't performed well due to my hdd having bad clusters. I had mounting problems before and I fear the hdd might not be able to take it. I still am waiting for a replacement hdd but until I get it I try to shy away from TrueCrypt for the moment.

I just need to hide certain folders so when I am away some staff will not be able to chance upon it. People are a bit nosy so to speak.

I previously used FreeHideFolder but when I upgraded to Avira Premium it detected it as APPL.FreeHideFolder. Upon upload to VirusTotal it said:

a-squared- Riskware.Application.FreeHideFolder!IK
Avira - APPL/HideFolder
CAT-Quickheal - Trojan.Agent.IRC
Ikarus - not-a-virus.application.FreeHideFolder,
McAfee - Heuristic.LooksLike.Game.Casino.C,
Sophos - FreeHideFolder

It did the job then and I didn't notice anything unusual when I was using it (with Avast Home, Avira Personal, Comodo Firewall 3.25, Malwarebytes and SASpy free -- all 5 didn't detect anything unusual with it also).

Can you guys recommend a freeware folder hiding software can I use? Maybe something light to not hog my system. (I am using Avira Premium 2009 / Online Armor Free for real-time, HitmanPro3.5 / Malwarebytes and SASpy free as on-demand)

Regards,

voltron

 

Why hiding? Hiding is not good at all.
Would it not be enough to just deny access to the folder(s)?

 

Hi softtouch ;

Thanks for the reply. When I was using CIS 3.9 I used to block certain folders from being accessed and it did work especially when you have password protected CIS you will have no way of opening it unless you go to Safe Mode where unfortunately you can access them.

I use Online Armor free now and it does not have that feature. With my existing encryption software, yes you can encrypt but you can outrightly delete the encrypted file. I chose to hide some folders due to it's contents(so there would be no clue to it's existence whereas in encrypt you know that a file is encrypted because you can see it is). In TrueCrypt it can encrypt and it can hide it in a hidden portion of the drive. But as stated earlier I am still waiting on a new hdd for which I will use TrueCrypt again. The one that I am using now may not handle the job as this is an old one with bad sectors and it has experienced mounting problems before.

Maybe you can share a way to deny access to folders without it being deleted I'll be appreciative. Can you teach me a different method or share me tips on it?

Regards,

voltron

 

Hi softtouch ;

I read about "The Vault Development" and am interested with it. Can you share a thought on it on my post. Maybe on hot can "The Vault" help me with my query of hiding a folder or as you have put it, "deny-access"?

I ask because the topic was too techy for me.

Regards,

voltron

 

I have yet to see a "hiding" program that really works. The ads all say they do but none I've tried yet do. Encryption is the best solution. The Vault you noted uses container type encryption. Everything inside the container is hidden as part of the encryption routine.

As for deletion, the only way around that is having backups. No matter what some may say, all files can be deleted if someone tries hard enough. If someone is really trying to delete your work, you will need to back it up and store the backup where it can't be easily accessed.

 

HAN is right, backup is the only real solution.

You can hide folders, for example by hooking the native windows api, from userland or kernel, but that's rootkit behavior, and sure not what we want.

If a backup is not possible, then, in my opinion, it should be a combination, encrypting and denying access.

Lets say, you protect folder xxx, files which you store into that folder are getting encrypted on the fly, and the folder access will be denied from everything. Whenever "something" will try to access the folder, that "something" would need to enter a password to open the folder. Files accessed within that folder would be decrypted on the fly, transparent for the accessing application.
When now "something" boot into safe mode, the folder can be accessed, but the content is still encrypted.
But that's just an idea. Maybe there is a small software out there which can do that.

 

AxCrypt is a good file locker. It wont physically hide a folder/file but it gives decent locking ability ... has right-click explorer functionaility built in, also. I see it more as a file locker though it offers AES-128 encryption.

I have used this 7 years and had not one problem. A gem!

 

Hi guys ;

Very well noted. I agree that a decent back-up is always the way to go. Someone also suggested to me about the hooking of win api from kernel in another forum but it is as I myself will agree to you "not what we want". The idea of encryption is the best to lockdown a file and prevent access to it. As stated even in safe mode it is still encrypted. I also used Axcrypt before and is good. It was my first freeware encryption prior to my usage of TrueCrypt.

For a time before TrueCrypt usage I did a combination of using FreeHideFolder and then blocking the freehidefolder.exe through CIS 3.25 Defense>My Blocked Files.

I have downloaded The Vault and keen on giving it a spin.

Thanks for the ideas guys I really appreciate it.

Regards,

voltron

PS;

Hi softtouch ;

I'll send you a PM for further inquiries.

Thanks.

 

Hi Voltron


Another extremely simple solution would be to store your files on a usb key, and just take the key with you when you're not at your desk. You can also encrypt them in case you forget to take it with you.

Also Truecrypt can create a container and/or encrypt the entire usb key just like a hard drive. This way you don't have to worry about mounting the container on your hard drive which has bad sectors. I have done this myself, and it's really easy to do. I think this is probably the best solution. Much better than using suspect software to "hide" your files.

 

I've used these two:

http://www.fspro.net/my-lockbox/
http://www.winmend.com/folder-hidden/

Both of them worked for me and both freeware. My Lockbox only allows to hide one folder, but you can easily circumvent this limitation by creating subfolders. (Be sure to read about the virus warning, though!)

 

voltron,

Try this,

http://www.xoslab.com/index.html


Its free and has fspro´s features - hide, lock, deny access and so on.

 

Hi guys;

Thanks for the reply.

Hi Frencho ;

I already have tried mMy Lockbox and yeah there was a virus attached to it when I tried it. I was with Avast Home before and it did not detect it. The virus was a nasty and it kept re-appearing even though I uninstalled the software. I'll check out folder-hidden.

Hi axle00 ;

I used to store my files in a usb but when my company had banned usage of usage of usb (due to files being copied/virus spreading etc..) I had to try encrypting and hiding my files. I do like TrueCrypt but as I have stated earlier my current hdd has bad sectors and due to this I have had mounting problems so I shy away from it as I await the new hdd. Thanks

Hi GreenWhite ;

I will also check it out.

 

Though accidently i stumbled across this thread, i too was looking for a Software that can Deny Acess to Folder, i dont want to Hide my Folders.
Matter of Preference.
MyLockBox and Easy File Locker were also good: But not for meh.
Magic Folder for Hiding Folders, but its not a freeware.http://www.pc-magic.com/dl.htm

I was looking for:

• SoftWare that can deny Access/to Folder, even when someone enters Safe Mode..
  
• Requires Password when Opening the GUI and during Uninstallation.
• Retail Version will also do. Cause i dont think any Freeware can provide all these feature.

Edited:
Easy File Locker was good ; as an Administrator even i cant access the folder. The folder could only be accessed after i remove from the GUI, making it quite robust. I was looking for one that asks for a password on double clicking the folder.

I think someone has understood my Query, for time being will use E.F.L., until some Flexible Wares is recommended.

 

I'm looking for something similar also.

My hard drive has 2 partitions with XP, the regular C drive and also E drive so i can dual boot. When i'm in C i can browse around the Windows files in E, delete and modify them and vice-versa. Now i assume if one OS gets infected, the malware can write files to the other Windows partition potentially corrupting both installations.

Any ideas on the best way to isolate these partitions from each other?

There are times i do want to remove the restriction, so i can reference windows files, sizes, copy files across in case a Windows file becomes corrupt etc.

Thanks for any pointers.

 

Are you sure there's no freeware which does that?

 

Hi

1)dirLock (v1.4)
http://download.cnet.com/dirLock/3000-2092_4-10558978.html

2)MyLockBox (v1.2)
http://www.fspro.net/my-lockbox/

3)Sofonesia Folder Protector (v1.1)
http://www.sofonesia.com/

4)Cryptainer LE (v7.3.2.0)
http://www.cypherix.co.uk/hide_files_and_folders.htm

5)CryptArchiver Lite (v3.1)
http://www.winencrypt.com/

6)SuperStorm (v1.52)
http://wareseeker.com/Security-Privacy/superstorm-1.52.zip/361514

7)TrueCrypt (v6.1a)
http://www.truecrypt.org/

[noparse]StorageCrypt[/noparse]
http://www.magic2003.net/scrypt/index.htm

 

Take a look at this. This is a screenshot of a truecrypt folder in the midst of a bunch of gifs that I collect.

http://i31.tinypic.com/10ngf13.jpg

This truecrypt folder is only 5MB but I could have made it 5G and it would look the same. You can also open a mediafire or rapidshare account to upload your truecrypt files for storage. And you can zip them and upload them as attachments to email. If they are too large, you can split them with Winrar.

 

Thanks for the list ha14, after taking a look through the Sofonesia one looks like it "may" do what i want. I just worry about software messing up and locking me out permanently.

My needs are pretty simple, and i thought this would be blindingly easy. I don't care about privacy/encryption/hiding anything, my partner is the only one with access to this machine and there's nothing to hide from her. I just need to lock dual-boot partitions so malware can't write across them.

For instance my drives:



"C" and "E" both have Windows XP and i can dual boot in to either. When i boot in to "C" i don't want anything writing to "E" and vice-versa.

How does everyone else secure their partitions from things jumping across?

 

Well malwares are actives only when windows is active, the possibility to spread from one partition to another is not common. If you have a windows on one and a linux on another this problem is solved. Making invisible a boot hard drive will be difficult to access it. Now making invisible one booting sector while the other is booted and working is hard to find a satisfying soft.

 

i vote for this , its same like "hide my folder 2009" but totally free !

 

Hi


I dont know if this will work, the thing is you have to repeat it twice by booting in one xp then on the other xp.

Click Start -> Run (This brings up the Run dialog box)
- Type cmd and press Enter (This brings up the Windows Command Prompt)
- Type diskpart in the command prompt and press Enter (This launches the Diskpart utility within the Command Prompt window)
- Now type list volume (This displays a list of all mounted volumes on your computer and their associated drive letters)

- Using the below picture as reference, if, for example, you would like to hide drive E, type select volume 6
- Now type remove letter E (Note: This sometime requires a reboot)

Diskpart will now remove the drive letter. The drive will no longer be available via Windows Explorer or My Computer.

Don’t worry though, your data remains safe!

Now, should you want to unhide the drive and make it accessible again, just repeat the above process. But instead of typing remove letter E, type assign letter E

Or you can use TweakUI
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
One such option is to control which drives appear when you open up My Computer and which don’t.

Possible you can do the same thing from Administrative Tools in the Control Panel.

or
HIDE & PROTECT ANY DRIVES shareware
http://www.softstack.com/hidedrv.html
Hide or restrict access to any drives such as Hard drive, CD, DVD, floppy and flash, and deny access to partitions of your hard drives with "Hide & Protect Drives". Stop unauthorized software installations and data leak by removable media.

Disk Drive Administrator shareware
http://www.softstack.com/scrdiskadmin.html
Hide, lock and protect your local, network, Floppy and USB drives, and disable the AutoRun feature for them using this fabulously designed software.

 

@voltron: The program you need, is it a program which locks folder and files, has a password to operate (to run it or to close it), and lock the same folder and files also in safe mode? Are that the features you need or are there more?

 

I tried most of the Freeware directed by ha14: Thank u for ur effort.: Although they did a very good job of Hiding a Folder some didn't work in xp SP3 , which any Retail Software like

• Magic Folder
• Folder Vault and http://www.gearboxcomputers.com/folder-vault.html
• Folder Locker did.http://www.brothersoft.com/folder-lock-20760.html.

Freeware didn't h' Encryption features, again Encrypting would take a considerable amount of time. [Although i dont need that Feature: Matter of Preference].
I just needed a Program to LOCKS FOLDER and LOCKING the FOLDER would LOCK the FILES as well. And one,that could not be accessed even in SAFE MODE.

So far i downloaded dozens of Program (some Retail/Freeware), but their is no Program for Locking a Folder.

 

I added it to my list of projects and will write one, after I am done with my Process Blocker application, maybe in a week.

 

Hi

Well If you are writting a revies then here are more to test if you wish, difficult to find what we relly want to do:

Folder Castle
http://www.magneticsoft.com/FolderCastle.shtml

MyFolder
http://virtual-protect.com/myfolder.aspx

instant Lock
http://instantlock.net/

Folder Guard
http://www.winability.com/folderguard/