Looking for really good folder lock/encryption program

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Peter202
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Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:47 am

Looking for really good folder lock/encryption program

#1 Post by Peter202 »

I am looking for a program that can lock or encrypt folder, but in case if my laptop is stolen and C drive is reformatted and reinstalled, and i have locked folders on D drive, these folders to remain unaccessible. Also, these folders to remain unaccessible if someone try to use live linux distros from USB drive.

Is there such a program? It may not be portable or free.

gezley
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#2 Post by gezley »

Since you mentioned that the solution doesn't have to be free, I'll go ahead and offer the following suggestion. I'm not sure how other people do this, but what I do is create an encrypted RAR archive, using something like the following command-line (simplified for illustration purposes):

Code: Select all

rar.exe u -p private-archive.rar file1 file2 file3
This creates (and subsequently updates) an encrypted RAR archive called private-archive.rar with the contents listed above. You can replace the filenames with the @files.lst syntax, where files.lst lists all the files and folders you want added to the archive, one per line.

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rar.exe u -p private-archive.rar @files.lst
files.lst

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file1
file2
file3
I use a much-expanded version of this command to carry private files around with me on a USB drive. The encryption algorithm used in the latest (Win)RAR releases is much more secure than that used in older versions. To decrypt the archive you can use the 7-zip file manager, which is portable. Note that if you use RAR version 5 to encrypt and archive your files you must use WinRAR 5 or the command-line unrar to decrypt and unpack. RAR version 4 is still available. Alternatively, you can use Total Commander to unpack and decrypt. TC is portable but not freeware.

I'm sure the free 7-zip can do the same, and the command-line Info-Zip as well. It is well worth learning the command-line interface to one of these utilities because you get much more flexibility to do what you want. I sat down over a weekend and learned how to use RAR on the command-line, and now I am familiar with its many subtle ways of archiving and encrypting files and folders. Many of the precise things I want to do cannot be done using a graphical user interface. In this case, at least for me, the command-line is king.

Peter202
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#3 Post by Peter202 »

Thanks, but this is not very convenient for what i am trying to achieve. I want to lock or encrypt my PortableApps folder which contains sensible data, and my main concern is if someone steal my laptop to not be able to access the data in this folder. But the folder is with big size so it is not very convenient every time to create encrypted archive and delete the original folder.


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Napiophelios
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#5 Post by Napiophelios »

I have used MyLockbox in the past
its not portable though and I used the free version

Also I never had the knowledge to really put it to the test
and the only hacker I have ever had on my computer at the time was still in diapers

I liked the way it worked tho,It was pretty userfriendly.
I used it to protect drive d and used DeepFreeze to protect drive c.
I think to protect files in safe mode you would have to use the pro version
They have a comparison chart for all their products here

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JohnTHaller
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#6 Post by JohnTHaller »

The best way to protect your files is to encrypt them. You can do that with hardware or software. On the software side, something like FreeOTFE, as joby_toss suggested, will allow you to encrypt the whole drive, but will require admin rights on every PC you wish to run apps on. FreeOTFE does, however, have FreeOTFE explorer which will allow you to get access to individual files to copy out of the encrypted container without needing admin rights. You won't be able to run apps, but you'll be able to pull a document out that you need.

On the hardware side, a hardware encryption drive like IronKey or the PortableApps.com Carbide will let you use your files on every PC even when you don't have admin rights. IronKey unlocks with a software app in the root directory, so you need to be able to run software from a flash drive on a supported OS to access it. Carbide unlocks with a pin code on the side, so it'll work with everything including things like TVs, tablets, photo kiosks, etc.

If you don't want to go the full encryption root, encrypting specific files and deleting them (preferably securely with something like Eraser) will allow you to encrypt and decrypt without needing admin rights. 7-Zip, WinRar and other zip utilities will let you do this. As will some paid apps. The downside is that as the number of files goes up, the time to decrypt and encrypt goes up. For something like your PortableApps folder with all your apps and data, this will take a LONG time.

The last option mentioned is something like a file/folder 'locker'. These don't use encryption and use some tricks to attempt to hide files and folders and make them inaccessible/hidden to users. They use some tricks of Windows folder properties and the way Explorer and Windows work to accomplish this. They'll generally keep maybe 98% of users out. But someone that's actually trying to get access can usually do so, since the files aren't actually encrypted. There are multiple freeware utilities out there that can do this. Some also hook into the OS to prevent you from opening the folder but these will either (1) not lock it as well if they aren't installed so going to another PC makes it easy to 'unlock' or (2) lock it so it can't be unlocked unless they are installed at the admin level rendering them non-portable. I can't recommend a specific folder locker. We've been considering releasing one at PortableApps.com because they're relatively easy to implement. We'd include big warnings on it about it not being really secure, though.
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Napiophelios
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#7 Post by Napiophelios »

JohnTHaller wrote: ...The last option mentioned is something like a file/folder 'locker'. These don't use encryption and use some tricks to attempt to hide files and folders and make them inaccessible/hidden to users. They use some tricks of Windows folder properties and the way Explorer and Windows work to accomplish this. They'll generally keep maybe 98% of users out. But someone that's actually trying to get access can usually do so, since the files aren't actually encrypted. There are multiple freeware utilities out there that can do this. Some also hook into the OS to prevent you from opening the folder but these will either (1) not lock it as well if they aren't installed so going to another PC makes it easy to 'unlock' or (2) lock it so it can't be unlocked unless they are installed at the admin level rendering them non-portable. I can't recommend a specific folder locker. We've been considering releasing one at PortableApps.com because they're relatively easy to implement. We'd include big warnings on it about it not being really secure, though.
Yeah I kinda figured it was more for privacy than actual security.
sorry I couldnt help :(

Peter202
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#8 Post by Peter202 »

@JohnTHaller Thanks, for the info!

I think for now i will go with Folder Lock program. I hope in case someone steal my laptop he will not be with advanced hacker knowledge.

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JohnTHaller
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#9 Post by JohnTHaller »

Peter202 wrote:@JohnTHaller Thanks, for the info!

I think for now i will go with Folder Lock program. I hope in case someone steal my laptop he will not be with advanced hacker knowledge.
Keep in mind that it doesn't require any advanced knowledge to defeat the majority of them. Using Mac OS X or Linux and showing hidden folders is usually all you need since the 'tricks' used to keep Windows Explorer from opening a folder won't work on non-Windows OSes.
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webfork
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Re: I am looking for really good folder lock/encryption prog

#10 Post by webfork »

Despite the negative news about it, I'm still using TrueCrypt and on the look out for something better. If you have the Ultimate/Enterprise editions of Windows 7 or Pro/Enterprise versions of Win 8, you can probably get by just fine with BitLocker. It will generally speaking defeat thieves.
if my laptop is stolen and C drive is reformatted and reinstalled, and i have locked folders on D drive, these folders to remain unaccessible.
As John pointed out, unless the thief really has no idea what they're doing, this isn't possible. Systems (especially Linux-based tools) generally report the entire disk drive and there's no way that I know of to get them to ignore part of the drive.

If you want to preserve something you saved securely and keep it hidden, you probably want to go the USB drive route.

Mixture
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Re: Looking for really good folder lock/encryption program

#11 Post by Mixture »

On my USB external HDD in my Portable Freeware file are these portable encryption apps:

Blowfish Advanced CS
bmpPacker
Drag'n'Crypt ULTRA
FileOps
FIR
PicCrypt
SteganoG
VeraCrypt
VSEncryptor
WAVE Cipher
WinAES
XORRIOR
ZappoScreech

Some of these are hard to obtain and other people don't trust the encryption apps I use. Tough! I use what works for me, not what works for you.

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webfork
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Re: Looking for really good folder lock/encryption program

#12 Post by webfork »

Mixture wrote:Some of these are hard to obtain and other people don't trust the encryption apps I use. Tough! I use what works for me, not what works for you.

Although it's probably not possible to know which security tools are 100%, there are objective ways to evaluate freeware security tools e.g. frequency of updates, reputation of developers, algorithms used (i.e. DES is considered broken while RC4 is weak), etc.
Mixture wrote:XORrior
http://www.scanwith.com/download/XORrior.htm

Didn't know about XORrior, good add. I've posted about OTP-based encryption tools before but was sure nobody but me cared about them.

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Midas
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Re: Looking for really good folder lock/encryption program

#13 Post by Midas »

A couple of quotes just so the thread reading feels more intelligible...
  • [url]http://www.scanwith.com/download/XORrior.htm[/url] author wrote:XORrior is a file encryption system using the simple -- but, if used properly, powerful -- XOR operator. If you use a (truly) random key file which is at least as big as the source file, the XOR encryption will be unbreakable. You can obtain truly random files by, for example, recording radio noise with your soundcard. XORrior can encrypt Gigabyte-sized files in a few minutes on a modern computer.
    [url]https://sourceforge.net/projects/otpopen/[/url] author wrote:[OTPOpen is] The one-time pad encryption method with a graphical user interface.

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