A lot of people choose to password protect their files by using Windows Compressed (Zipped) Folders feature while some other people who are more than concern about their information protection and secrecy would like to use a good interlocking software or any additional data protecting software system. I always say that prior to purchasing or applying whatever security system software for your secret information, you must 1st figure out your necessity that what do you need from this software. Let say, if you prefer to encrypt your files, you’ll certainly not apply a locking software preferably you will look for a data file and folder encoding software. Same goes with the locking software system, you need to specify your necessities first. This is because different locking software interlocks your data in another way like a few software system just hide your files that get seeable when person who’s accession to your computer activate “Show Hidden Files and Folder” and deactivate “Hide Protected OS Files” options from the Windows Explorer.

What if you’re using such a weak information locking software system that doesn’t protect your files even from the informal users, s it safe for your data? Your response would by all odds be No. Anybody who’s severely worried about his or her information protection and secrecy, would all of the time would like to apply an authentic data locking software.

If you’re particularly searching a way to block off accession to your files and simultaneously you want that your saved information can’t be erased, then you’ve to hunt for a software system that provides you ‘Data in Use’ protection e.g., Folder Protect that not only blocks unauthorized accession to your files but in addition to that allow you to make your file delete-proof and write secure as well and you are able to also hide your files and folders in such a way that even if individual tries to see them or explore them afterwards setting off “Show Hidden Files and Folder” and deactivating “Hide Protected OS Files” options from the Windows Explorer, he finishes up without any result found. This is something genuinely awesome that you in reality have command to customize level of protection of your files and folders. Folder Protect offers 4 dissimilar layers of security system to make your files entirely inaccessible, hidden, write-protected and delete-proof. You are able to also decide combination of these security levels as well like you are able to choose making your files inaccessible and delete-proof which stands for that your secure files can’t be accessed also no one can erase them.

The application is pretty simple and allows you to hide (password protected) files in BMP files. As similar commercial it performs these tasks well for small sized files. If you want to hide larger files – think about a different solution!

Another disadvantage is that you need to have to software installed on all the computers where you want to hide – unhide files.

A big advance is the project age itself. It is an old tool and no one might think that is still in use (come on – is a 7 years old release) and the fact that is free and open source.

Soon we will build a comparison for hiding files products and disregarding its age Hide In Picture is still a strong competitor.

Rated 7 from 10 by our team.

What EncryptOnClick can do

• A very secure encryption and decryption method is used (256-bit AES encryption).
• Files are both compressed & encrypted, which results in a smaller file.
• Password protected.
• Will encrypt single files or all files in a folder.
• Very simple to use interface.
• Can be used on a USB key.
• Fully Unicode enabled so filenames in any language can be encrypted.
• Fits on a floppy disk.
• EncryptOnClick will encrypt, decrypt, compress, and uncompress files which can also be opened and decrypted using third party programs like WinZip 9 (provided the correct password is used).
• Fully compatible with all of the encryption methods used by SyncbackSE.

You can download EncryptOnClick from here. After installation, open the program, choose a file or folder to secure, and type in your password. The files or folder will get an encrypted icon, and you’ll be asked for the password to open them—and that’s it, at least with the freeware version. The app uses 256-bit AES encryption, so for hiding stuff from the average snooper, it’s a tight and light solution.

EncryptOnClick is a free download for Windows systems only.

Enjoy!

The free tools the article advice you to use include Undelete Plus, PC Inspector File Recovery, and Restoration.

Read the whole article here: How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

Enjoy!

Warning from the publisher: Always back up your files before using this tool as it will not work with all applications.

Download AppCompactor.

To reverse this you will have to select My Computer on the desktop, then select Tools and locate the Folder Options section, then select the View tab and look under the Hidden Files section and select the Show Hidden Files and Folders.

There are programs you can download such as Microsoft Private Folder 1.0, but these are not used to protect your computer from hackers, they are just for protecting specific files with a password from other people that use your computer such as family and friends.  In order to use this program you will need to download it first of course.  Along with other hardware and software, which makes this an un-attractive approach to protect your files, I would suggest just hiding them. 

The best way to password protect your files is to use Winrar or Winzip, because with these all you have to do is archive the file and you can password protect the archive and place the file or folder in the archive area.  This is the easiest and only completely free method of doing this that I know of, all others require Microsoft Office or other software and hardware so I suggest this method. 

I’m sure there other programs you can download to do this but why would you when it is as simple has that, besides the fact that those programs will probably cost a little chunk of change.

If you are running a PC computer and you would like to know how to encrypt files you can use a program called BitLocker which is alike its counterpart FileVault but directed towards Windows Vista and Windows 2008 OS. BitLocker runs basically the same way as FileVault but I think it has a lot more features. It also gives you a feeling of total lockdown power when using Bitlocker compared to using FileVault.

Encrypting files is important because many intruders are trying to access millions of computers daily in order to receive personal information about the user. If your computer is encrypted the intruder will have no chance of gaining control or any remote access to your computer. It also comes in handy for when your sending your computer to be fixed but don’t want to worry about the files being viewed or touched. If you encrypt them only you and people with the password will ever be able to access the files.

You can find … 

… more on BitLocker here.
… more on FileVault here.
… more hide file solutions here.

1. One option is trying FileVault which if you set-up an administrator account then Apple Care shouldn’t be able to view anything.
2. Create an encrypted disk image then copy the files into it and set it up with a password.
3. Clone the drive to the external.

Those are three ways you can stop Apple Care Staff from accessing your files. I also would highly suggest tat you back-up any and all files that are important to you if you want to be able to sleep at night while your Mac is in the shop. I have read elsewhere that people have had problems with getting back drives reformatted and different account log-ins etc. To avoid this happening to you and countless of hours of work gone due to not backing up your site take the time and do so. It only takes about 20 minutes to back-up your drives and it will save you a ton of time compared to if something went wrong at Apple and you lost all your files.

Don’t leave this one in the hand of Apple Care Staff take it into your own and develop a plan from the get go so you can ensure your files safety. First off make sure you either do steps 1, 2, or 3, and then you will want to create the back-up for your files. Once these two things are complete then you are ready to send your Mac into get repaired. 

 1. Open a Notepad and write down
       @echo off
        cls
        attrib +r +h +s drive:\WRITE THE LOCATION OF FILE.file extension
        exit

        Suppose your file location is drive C: , and your file name is a.txt, then type this:
        @echo off
        cls
        attrib +r +h +s C:\a.txt
        exit

2.   Save it as bat file (ex. hide.bat)

3.   Run it

When you want to view the file you will need to do the following:

1.  Open a Notepad and write down
     @echo off
      cls
      attrib -r -s -h drive:\WRITE THE LOCATION OF FILE.file extension
      exit
      (just replace the “+” sign before r, s and h of previous code with a “-” sign ) 

2.   Save it as bat file(ex. show.bat)

3.   Run it

You won’t need to install any special programs or anything to be able to utilize your hidden files. It can be done by anybody and very easily as you can see above. The file will only be shown by the Show System File method but nobody will suspect the file to be its own system and they also won’t know the name of the document. The name of the file will act of your password when viewing it in hidden mode as well.