If you want to hide and protect your folders in Windows, the operating system itself has its own tools to do it. We can configure the different user permissions in order that other PC users cannot enter certain folders, however, any user with administrator permissions can change these permissions, and enter the folder without problems. In these cases, we can use external programs that help us hide and protect folders to improve our privacy.

Why do you have to hide or protect folders

If we are on a shared computer with more people, the most normal thing is to have several users configured in the Windows operating system. Generally we will have an administrator only on the computer, and the rest will be normal users without administrator permissions. In these cases we can make use of Windows tools in order to hide and protect our folders, being able to configure different user permissions that we have, and it is that we will be able to configure that only the owner user has full control, while the rest of the users do not have any permission: neither reading, writing, execution, modification etc.

To access the security settings menu, just right-click on a folder in question. Once inside, click on the « Security » tab. If we want to edit the permissions, we must click on « Edit », then a new menu will appear where we will be able to choose the permissions of the different groups or users that we have in the operating system. At the bottom we will have the different options to allow or deny the different permissions to users and groups. Depending on what interests us, we can remove different user groups so that they do not have permissions:

If we have several administrators we have to use other methods to hide and protect our folders and files, because being administrators they can also configure the permissions they want. Next, we are going to show you two solutions so that you can hide and protect your files even if you have several administrators in the operating system.

Hide Folders

Hide Folders It is a commercial tool, that is, it is not free as it happens with other alternatives that we are also going to present to you. In this case we will be able to hide and block any folder from other users, protecting ourselves with a master password that only you know. If you need a program that is very easy to use, fast and has all the necessary security options to keep your most important folders safe, this software is ideal for you.

Some features of this program is that it supports NTFS, exFAT, FAT and FAT32 file systems. It also allows an unlimited number of protected folders, ideal for not having problems and protecting all the ones we want. It will also allow us to assign trust processes that will be able to access the files, protect the program against uninstalling it and it is available in several languages. Finally, the folders protected by this program will be protected even in failsafe mode.

As we have explained previously, this program is commercial, so it is not free. In the event that you want to use it unlimitedly on a computer, the license price is only $ 39.95, however, You also have the family version that we can buy for $ 79.95, ideal to install it on up to 5 personal computers.

Once we have seen the main characteristics of this interesting program, we will see its download, installation and also operation.

Download and installation

We can download this program directly from the official website of the tool that we have indicated before. Logically, being a commercial program, it is not free, but we will have a 30-day trial version where we will be able to use it without any limit. If after these 30 days we want to continue using it, we must acquire a license through the official website of the program.

Once the program is downloaded we install it like any other program in Windows, select the installation language in « Spanish » and click on « Accept » to continue with the configuration wizard.

The installation wizard has the usual steps, we have to accept the agreement, define a destination folder where to install the program, choose the name of the installation, if we want to create shortcuts and finally click on install. After a few seconds it will be installed and ready to go, we can click on « Finalize » to close the installation wizard.

The installation may return an error, this is because you need to have it .NET Framework installed on the PC, we will get a window where it will indicate that a specific version is needed to be able to function, we install this software directly from Microsoft, and then we run the program installer again so that it installs everything correctly and has no problems.

Operation

The operation of this program is very simple. In the « Dashboard » we will be able to see the general state of the program, and also how many days we have left to need a program license. At the top we have the different sections of the configuration, in addition, we have the possibility of activating a remote control web server, and we will also be able to configure a master password in the program to avoid any changes made to the program, in this way, We will be sure that no one else will be able to use this program to unhide or unprotect a folder in question.

In the « Edit List » section is where we can add the different folders to hide or protect, what we have to do is click on the « Add » button and then we put the path of the folder to hide, and finally choose the protection mode. This program allows us to:

Disprotect: Does not impose any protection.
Hide: Hide the folder only.
Lock: Password-blocks access to folder.
Hide and Lock: Hide the folder and ask for a password to enter it.
Read Only: Only allows reading the folder.
Depending on what interests us, we will have to choose one option or another. We must remember that we will be able to enter an unlimited number of folders in the list to protect.

If an unauthorized user tries to access the folder, we will have different access errors due to lack of permissions, in fact, even if we are administrators, we will not get the permission change menus.

In the « Edit List » section we will be able to add the folders we want, but also remove them at any time, without the need for complex configurations.

In the « Configuration » section we will be able to see all the general options of the program, such as activating the protections even if the program is closed, integrating the program in the context menu, clean any possible track from a hidden folder, and that is that you can delete all the recent data, in the elements of the recycle bin, possibility of removing the Hide Folders program itself from the most used programs etc.

Other options available are to enable hotkeys, with a combination of keys we can open the program, disable protection, activate protection and alternate protection. We can also configure other advanced options such as activating protection when the PC starts, after certain minutes of inactivity, and even enabling protection when the computer is locked.

In the « Password » section is where we can enter a new password to protect the program, in addition, it is recommended to enter an email to allow password recovery. If we forget the password we will not be able to recover it in any way, unless we put the email. Finally, in the « Tools » section we will be able to see the trust processes and configure them, modify the language and skin and other options related to the program.

As you can see, Hide Folders is a highly recommended option to protect our files and folders on the local computer, this is ideal to protect us properly.

Prot-On

Prot-On It is a solution similar to the previous one, but in this case, it allows us to have full control of our files and folders wherever they are. If you are going to share files through Google Drive, Dropbox or any other cloud storage service, if you use Prot-ON you will be able to define and limit who can access your files or folders. Thanks to this interesting tool, we will be able to decide when and who can access the files and folders, this service is available for Windows, macOS, Android and also iOS operating systems, so we have full compatibility.

This program is capable of protecting PDF documents, the Office suite, texts, videos, audios and also photographs. The objective of this program is to control access to the file, we can configure who, when and why the protected files are accessed. Through the Prot-On control panel we will be able to consult the movements of each document, if it has been modified or edited, and also remotely modify the permissions that we want, ideal for closing access to a specific person.

Once we know the main characteristics of Prot-On, we will see how it is downloaded, installed and operated.

Download and installation

We can download this program directly from the official website that we have indicated before. Once the program is downloaded, we will be able to install it by running the installer, we simply have to open it and follow the installation wizard step by step, once installed, click on finish and a new window will open in our operating system.

In this new window that opens, we can choose between « I already have an account » in case you were registered before, or choose « I want to create a free account now ». We have chosen this second option, to create a new account in Prot-On and start protecting our files.

For registration, a username, a real email, a name with their surnames and also an access password are totally necessary. We will use these credentials later to log in via the web and control all the permissions of the files we want.

Once we open the email and validate the account, it will indicate that our registration has been successfully completed, and that we are close to starting to use Prot-On. Now what we must do is open the program that we have available in the icon in the lower right area of Windows.

Now that we have successfully downloaded and installed this software, let's see how it works and what options we have available.

Operation

If we click on the icon in the lower right area, we will find the different options that we have available:

-Protect file: this option allows us to protect a file individually, to later manage permissions through the web.
-Open file: this option allows us to open a protected file.
-Protect text: allows you to protect a specific text.
-Decrypt text from clipboard: whatever we have on the clipboard that is protected by Prot-On, we can easily decrypt it and display it in plain text.
-Protonized folders: if you want to protect entire folders and not just files, here is the possibility.
-Manage permissions on the web: the web will open directly to us where we can manage all permissions.
-Preferences: we will see the different configuration options available.
-Help: it will take the help of the program itself to guide us.
-Exit: we close the program completely on the computer.

If we click on « Protect file » we will get the different options available, we simply have to choose the file to protect, and we will get a new menu telling us that the file has been protected correctly. We can also manage the permissions of the document, we have a button to go directly to the web application, we also have the possibility to share the link and send the file safely, since we can manage permissions remotely.

As you can see, any protected file will have the .proton extension, regardless of whether it is an executable, text file, Office document or PDF among many others.

If we protect an Excel file with Prot-On, and we do not have permissions to open it, it will indicate that the file is protected and that we cannot open it. It invites us to go to the official website to provide them with the necessary permissions to open this type of file.

On the official website we will be able to see the number of protections that have been carried out currently and also in the month, in addition, we have the possibility to see how many times a certain file has been shared. In the « sectionDefault permissions» we will be able to see all the permissions that we have available, we will see our own user and we can also create a group of « Trust circle », in addition, we have the possibility to give certain permissions to any Prot-On user.

Other options we have are to search for the different protections of files and folders, we have a complete search engine to see all the files and properly manage the permissions. Keep in mind that it is possible to have more than 1000 files without any problem, and we have to find them in some way to properly manage their permissions.

Finally, if we have the Premium version of Prot-On, we will be able to unlock certain Premium functions such as adding a watermark, the document expires, and even that users can request the necessary permissions. Files could also be opened offline, and even only one device can be opened per user.

In the « My groups and policies » section we are going to be able to form several groups and give permits to all of them simultaneously, in this way, we can create a group that has specific permissions on a specific file or folder.

As you can see, this tool is very easy to use.

Conclusions

We currently have several tools to protect our files and folders from prying eyes, in this way, we can adequately protect our information without fear that someone will be able to open the files, modify them or directly delete them. Although at first the Windows operating system provides us with the necessary tools with the operating system itself, if we have more than one administrator, you could change the accesses to folders and files without much problem, making it absolutely necessary to have external tools that add additional protection.

The two tools we have shown you are not the only ones that will allow us to hide, protect and even share our protected files without privacy problems. We would also have the possibility of creating an encrypted container with VeraCrypt, one of the programs par excellence to encrypt all the data in a container and put all the files and folders there. This program also allows us to fully encrypt hard drive partitions and even the entire disk, of course we could also do the same for external USB sticks.