Hide & Protect Your Files with Easy File Locker [Windows]

Do you have a certain file or folder that you don’t want other users on your system to be able to see or access? Confidential documents will be safe from prying eyes. Your financial documents will be safe from your mother or dare I say significant other! We’ve covered several encryption softwares in the past, like TrueCrypt but this is really, really easy to use. Hence its name.

Easy File Locker is a pretty small file at 224KB and will do exactly what it says. It will let you protect a file or folder from being seen or accessed by anyone on your system. This is a light-weight program that does not slow down your system and even continues working if the machine is booted in safe mode. It does not require the application to be running for the security to work and it can be password-protected as well.

Let’s take a look at how it works.

On first start, you will see a user interface like the one below:

efl1

Now to protect a file or folder, the method is almost the same. All you have to do is hit Edit ““ Add File or Add Folder to either protect a file or folder. Talk about straightforward!

efl2

Next up, you will have to pick your file or folder as well as choose from the following options. You can:

  • Make the file or folder accessible
  • Make the file or folder writable
  • Make the file or folder erasable
  • Make the file or folder invisible

efl3

Click the Browse button represented by the box with three dots next to the path to select your target file/folder like so:

efl4

You will see a window like this when you are done.

efl5

Next, you can set a password for the application by hitting System ““ Set password

efl6

My favorite ability is making a folder visible and not accessible.

efl6a

When the user tries to open the folder whamo ““ Access is denied!

efl7

Also see:

- 2 Ways to Hide “Important” Files and Folders in Windows
- How To Hide Files Like a Super Villain

Do you have another easy solution to keep unwanted grubby little fingers off of your stuff? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

Tagged: • • • • • • •

Karl L. Gechlik

Karl L. Gechlik here from AskTheAdmin.com doing a weekly guest blogging spot for our new found friends at MakeUseOf.com. I run my own consulting company, manage AskTheAdmin.com and work a full 9 to 5 job on Wall street as a System Administrator.

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  • Arvind

    Nice, will give it a shot today on Vista x64.

  • http://www.zenflavor.com vincent

    Just installed on XP SP3… simple and works great. And it’s free as well.

  • megamike

    i am traveling to Europe soon any one know of a program to lock my laptop should it be stolen?

  • Pol

    This software like Easy File Locker, Hide Folder 2.2, Microsoft Private Folder, are actually not so sure just because a program like Revo Uninstaller http://www.revouninstaller.com to remove them completely, even if you set a password.

    These three are the ones I have tried, if you know others programs who are tested for Revo Uninstaller write here, I will do the same! ;-)

  • zipzap

    megamike,

    I use Matrix Screen Locker:

    http://www.snapfiles.com/get/matrixlock.html

  • File Lock

    I use software Folder Lock to hide and protect my files, folders and even drives. it a gr8 software as it uses 256-bit AES encryption on the fly

  • Jalley

    I’ve used My Lockbox for a long time with excellent results. Simple to use but highly effective.

    http://www.fspro.net/my-lockbox/

  • lmtl

    I installed this but when i tried for first time , it asked for password that i didn’t set it before. I could not uninstall it because it asks again for password

  • Pol

    If you need use Revo Uninstaller, remove and reinstall.

  • http://ih-dom.ru/ lolo123456

    This is a light-weight program that does not slow down your system and even continues working if the machine is booted in safe mode

  • Tyson

    Very easy to use and works great :)

  • Magnifico

    All you need is a file recovery app such as PC Inspector File Recovery (the one I used)to break these “secure” lockers. Don’t be lulled.

  • http://www.YouTube.com/Stevoisiak Stevoisiak

    PacMario…

    Isn’t that the character file for Super Smash Brother Brawl?

  • Dave

    I use Folder Password Expert to lock my folders. It works great and the interface is easy to get used to.
    http://folder-password-expert.com

  • Tony

    Thanks. MakeUseOf articles always provide a great help.