GiliSoft File Lock is an innovative software application which enables you to password protect all the private information on your hard drive. You can make your files and folders inaccessible, invisible or protect them from modification. The protected folders or files are not accessible by any users – no matter how they are trying to get in – locally or from the net. Effective protection mechanism, intuitive user interface, and set of fine-tuning options will suit the needs of everyone from novice Windows users to computer experts. Since 2001, our Hide Folders software products help our users to hide private files and folders from prying eyes. No better way to protect a folder or a file as easy as GiliSoft File Lock does! With GiliSoft File Lock you can easily protect any number of folders and files on your computer. You can select any file or folder to protect from the program, or protect the file or folder using Windows Explorer context menu. Features and benefits

• Effective protection methods allow you to hide folders out from users and applications in Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Nobody but you will access your hidden folders.
• 3 protection methods available: Hide, Lock,  Read Only
• NTFS, FAT32 and FAT volumes are supported.
• Unlimited number of folders can be protected at the same time.
• No file system structure modifications will occur.
• Effective password protection when running program.
• Effective password protection when uninstalling program.
• True stealth mode – you cannot detect the program with Windows Task Manager.
• Safe mode support – The folders can be hidden even if your computer is running in safe mode.

Difference from internal Windows data protection features A lot of advanced users believe that GiliSoft File Lock (as well as any other third party folder protection software) is useless because Windows has integrated file and folder lock features. Well, indeed, you can lock folders with Windows XP/Vista/Seven and this folder will be inaccessible by the other (unauthorized) users. But there are some annoying limitations that you should be aware of:

1. Windows allows you to lock files and folders on NTFS volumes only. FAT and FAT32 are not supported.
2. It is impossible to hide folder or file with standard Windows facilities. Only file and folder lock is possible.
3. There is no way to make folder invisible but accessible which is helpful for different security tasks like logging, private data recording, backing up etc.
4. A system administrator can easily get access to the locked folders and files.
5. Windows XP home edition doesn’t have a user interface to protect files and folders.
6. There is no files and folders password protection in Windows (except the password you provide during Windows logon) – as soon as an authorized user authenticate himself by logging on, s/he get access to the protected files and folders. If you share your account with the another users then you can’t exploit Windows folder protection features.

Protection modes: Hide folder, Lock folder,  Read Only Hide – When you enable protection, the protected file or folder will not be visible to a user.The protected file or folder will not be visible to a user and it will not be possible to access them. You can not use this protection method for Windows, System32 and GiliSoft File Lock application folders. Lock – the protected file or folder will be visible but not accessible. It is similar to built-in protection of Windows NT-based operating systems on NTFS volumes. You can not use this protection method for Windows, System and GiliSoft File Lock application folders. Read only – You can access the protected files and folders, but you cannot modify them. If you protect folder contents (using asterisk wildcard), you cannot copy files into the folder.