Free Softwares to Lock & Hide Folders on Windows 7 / Vista / XP

If your friends or siblings use you computer a great deal, you may have a coupe of files you wish to keep from their view. These may range from documents, movies and other personal stuffs. I wrote a post on how to hide your folders and files on Windows XP using a batch file but this doesn’t work on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Most of the software available to do this on Windows 7 are not freewares but I came up with a couple of softwares that can lock and hide your folders for free. Need to make those folders private? There are ways to do it without paying a dime!

1. Easy File Locker

Easy File Locker is a cool freeware that lets you lock, hide and deny access to your files and folders on Windows 7, XP and Vista. One thing I love about this software is the fact that it’s got some really good options and the kind of protection you choose depends what feels convenient for you. You can choose to make the folder visible but inaccessible or just hide it from people’s view.

How to Use

- After installing the software, the first thing you should do is setting up your password.

how to lock and hide folders on windows - Be sure you use a password no one can easily guess and be sure it’s something you can remember

- Go to Edit > Add File or Add Folder and select whatever you need to hide or protect

how to lock and hide folders on windows 7- Unmark the options as shown above. This makes the folder hidden and inaccessible. You can choose not to hide the folder but deny accessibility. The options you choose is definitely up to you but I recommend the one shown above.

- Click OK, your folder should be hidden now. You can quite the software and go to the folder location whether it’s still there or not.

-To unhide the file / folder, simply run Easy File Locker again, enter your password, double click the file or folder on the list and check all four options.

2. Lock-A-Folder

LocK-A-FoLdeR is a lightweight and easy to use program that allows you to hide and lock up any folders on your computer, making them invisible and inaccessible to anyone but yourself. After you create a master password, simply select the folder(s) you want to hide and click a button to make them disappear. To unlock a folder, enter your password and select the folder that you want to unlock.

how to lock and hide folders on windows 7How to Use

- At the first run, the software should ask you to set up a master password

- As shown above, simply click on Lock a Folder to select the folder you intend to hide.

- You should now see the path on the list.

- To make the unlock the folder and make it visible again, run Lock-A-Folder, click on the path to the file and click Unlock selected Folder

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Don Caprio is a full time blogger / web designer living in Nigeria and apart from blogging, my other obsession is music. I'm a self-confessed Tupac fan, an iOS lover, an Android user, a Windows 8 power user, a writer with a 5-year old unfinished novel... and the list goes on and on. You can add me on Facebook, follow my updates on Twitter or add me to your circles on ! You can as well grab my feed and get updates through email.
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Comments

  1. Sir, i wanna download the software for locking folders. where can i get it

  2. The majority of Windows OS do not come with a method of password protecting your files and folders, so if you want to password your sensitive folders, you will need to download a third-party program to password protect your folders. Applications like Lock-A-Folder is just the perfect application you need to lock your individual folders. Lock-A-Folder is a lightweight and easy-to-use application that allows you to password protect any folder on your computer making them invisible and inaccessible to any other person except yourself.
    Nwosu Desmond recently posted..How to Password protect a folder in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7My Profile

  3. It helped me a lot Don………….
    Geetanjali Panda recently posted..How to Compare 2 Websites: Which Loads FasterMy Profile

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